Secrets of Ipswich
by amiesuzie
Summary: Nessie Cullen is no stranger to secrets, & Ipswich has its share of them. What will happen when Nessie, joined by the Cullens, starts school at Spencer Academy? Nessie meets the mysterious Sons of Ipswich & learns new things about her world & herself.
1. A New Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the Covenant. I just borrow their characters and ideas and have a little fun with it for my own enjoyment – hopefully your's, too. Hahaha! ; )

Author's Note: The title is a work in progress so if any one comes up with a better name for the story, it would be much appreciate. I'll be sure to give you full and complete credit! Thanks!

Oh, and my mental picture of Nessie as an adult is Isla Fisher. So, that's who I'm thinking of when I think of Nessie.

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A NEW HOME

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Saturday, May 23, 2015

_The normally peaceful and quiet meadow in the forest outside of La Push and Forks was filled with screams and howls on this cool summer night. It was populated with magical creatures fighting against one another – wolf against vampire, vampire against vampire. One could hear the burning of fire and whines of wounded wolves. One could smell the stench of burnt vampire. One could taste the death in the air._

_In the midst of the meadow, one could see a girl in a beautiful white dress next to one of the wolves in the midst of fighting with one of the female vampires. The head of the vampire separated from its body as the wolf tore it off. The girl reached up to the wolf and hugged it tightly after it released the vampire which was hauled off by another wolf who finished ripping its limbs off and began to burn it. The girl let out a shriek as the wolf pulled away from her arms and fell to the ground. She quickly collapsed next to the wolf and clung to it. Her pure white dress began to soak up the blood on the wolf's coat from scratches and gashes from the battle. She clung to it like a lifeline. It took her a moment to realize that the wolf was deathly still. As she noticed this, she began screaming desperately for help, but her screams were in vain. No one could hear her nor did they take notice of her screams. As the fight gradually diminished, the cries of the various beings in the meadow quieted and the only sound that could be heard was the despairing sobs of the girl next to the wolf. Moments later, the two were surrounded by her family and various wolves as they each finished their individual battles._

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Sunday, August 28, 2023

"Where are we, Daddy?" Renesmee asked from the back seat of the black Volvo.

"We are just outside of Ipswich, my little Angel," Edward Cullen answered his 16 year old daughter using his nickname for her. Bella was his Angel and Nessie was his little Angel. That was how he explained it to others at least – his angels. They were the light of his life and the only two people in the world he would do anything for no matter what it took or what was involved.

"Where's the rest of the family? I thought we were all sticking together." Another question came from the backseat as the teenager noticed that the black Mercedes, the yellow Porsche, and the silver Jeep on the roadway ahead of them were missing.

"They decided to go on ahead of us. Poppy and Nanna wanted to get the house as settled as they could before school starts tomorrow. And your aunts and uncles are working on picking up a surprise which they wanted to have waiting for you when we arrive at the house," Bella answered her daughter.

"Where's the school? Isn't it in town?" Nessie continued.

"No, it's actually outside of town," Edward answered simply.

"It's a private school, right?"

"Yes."

"And most of the students live on campus?"

Bella answered in the affirmative.

"Will we drive by it?" The answer was a simple no, indicating her parent's hope that she would quiet down, but Nessie continued to pepper her parents with questions on anything and everything as they continued down the county road toward Ipswich. She was not used to moving to new places as they had only lived in Forks and Denali in her comparatively short life. Forks was the place where she was born and where she had matured, while Denali was the home of their 'extended' family, the Denali coven. Naturally, neither locality exposed her to very many new things so new experiences tended to peak her curiosity a great deal. When this happened, her brain began functioning at ninety miles an hour; thus, leading to the wide variety of questions shot at her parents.

As they pulled into town, Nessie's questions died down as her interest in her surroundings took her attention away from the thoughts of her overactive brain. As they passed through downtown Ipswich, Nessie took notice of the various historic buildings lining the street. Things such as these fascinated Nessie greatly. She thought that the buildings gave her a glimpse into the past just as her family did, and she reveled in that. She especially loved places in the Eastern part of the United States because their age was so much greater than the age of buildings in other parts of the United States and North America in general.

They turned out of downtown and down a road, Nessie presumed lead to the new Cullen home. She did not think they would be stopping anywhere on their way back to the house. Esme was always on top of things and most likely had everything already set up and prepared.

Their future home was outside of town like they had been in both Forks and Denali. Carlisle purchased the land in 2018 shortly after they had moved back to Denali. The newest Cullen property was on the peninsula between the smaller Essex Bay and the much larger Ipswich Bay. Once the land was purchased, Esme had promptly begun planning a home for the family to move into.

As the Volvo flew down the road, the distance between the houses grew farther and farther apart. After a few miles, Edward pulled off the main road and onto the drive that Nessie assumed led to their new home. She was absolutely thrilled to see the new building that they would call home.

Esme had discussed the house at great lengths with the entire family prior to officiating the building plans. She took into account everyone's personal desires and hopes for their new home. In particular, she talked with the Cullen women about how they wanted to decorate the house and what kind of design they would like to see in this one. They made sure to include Bella and Nessie in all of the preparations for this house as it was the first house they had built since Bella and Nessie had joined the Cullen family. Esme wanted to make sure they all had a say in what went into the house and that each could contribute their own sense of self into the style that would make the house their own.

Unlike their two previous homes, Edward, Bella, and Nessie would live in the big house with the rest of the family rather than in a cottage separate from the main house. The small family had wanted it to be just the three of them in Nessie's early years to establish their own relationship as a family separate from the Cullens, but now that she was almost officially an adult, they felt it was time to rejoin the whole Cullen family and be a part of that family unit instead.

As they drove up the driveway toward the house, Nessie's thoughts drifted to her new bedroom. She was most excited about this aspect of her house – her own personal sanctuary from the world. When Esme was planning the house, she had asked her grandparents and her parents if she could have a room farther away from the family. In both of their old homes, Nessie had always had the option of going to the cottage to sleep when the family became too rowdy and loud, preventing Nessie from getting a good night's rest. With the new arrangements, though, there would be no escape from her family's permanent sleep insomnia and the ruckus that often accompanied it. So, Esme had planned an attic/loft type of deal on the uppermost level that would be Nessie's personal space alone. It would be soundproofed just enough so as to allow her to sleep but also to allow the family to continue to live their lives during the night hours.

She continued to watch out her window from the back seat, watching the trees go by. The trees here were much smaller and their trunks much smaller around than the Evergreens back in Forks and even than those in Denali. The leaves were gradually beginning their transition into the bright orange, red, and yellow colors of the fall season. Their beauty only served to enhance the excitement Nessie felt. She would live in a place that was beautiful in its own right and this contented her.

She had been concerned that this new location would not be as beautiful as Denali and Forks. Granted, she believed Forks to be the most perfect place on Earth. It was the place in which she had been born and had grown up. It was here that she had first fallen, and it was her that the rest of her family lived – Grandpa Charlie, Grandma Sue, Seth, the Uleys, the Blacks, and the rest of her wolf pack family. They were her closest family outside of the Cullens.

Then she saw the new Cullen house. All the fears in her heart that were up to this point not visible but brimming under the surface and to an extent disguised as excitement, completely dissipated. These fears just vanished at the sight of the new Cullen house. Nessie just about jumped out of her seat with excitement at seeing their new home.

"Calm down, Baby. You don't want to take your father's poor car out," Bella admonished her daughter. When Nessie glanced momentarily away from the window to her mother, she could see her mother's own excitement. Nessie knew Bella was just as excited as she was to see the results of the combined work of the Cullen women and their new home period. Bella simply contained her excitement better than her daughter did.

From the outside, it looked like a perfect blend of the local historical architecture and the architecture that was typical of the Cullen family. The house had a brick finish which set it off from the green of the landscape and the blue of Ipswich Bay that lay in the background. The house was of neocolonial architecture giving it a colonial feel that combined the modern taste that was the trademark of the Cullens. It was perfect, and Nessie knew that Esme had done a wonderful job designing their new home – as she always did.

Edward pulled the car around the circular driveway and stopped in front of the French doors. He swiftly got out of the car to open the respective doors of both his wife and daughter. Both women got out of the car and just stood there with both holding one of Edward's hands. The trio looked at their new home in awe. It was gorgeous. It was perfect. It was home.

The moment was interrupted by childlike squeals coming from just inside the front door. "They're here! They're here!"

Out the front door launched the pixie of the family, Alice Cullen. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" She hugged her brother and sister and then finally her niece. "We've had so much fun getting the house and everything ready, but it just hasn't felt right. And now it does because we're altogether again," she continued on excitedly clapping her hands together and jumping lightly up and down.

The three took their eyes from the smallest Cullen to see the rest of the family walk out the front door and onto the stone patio. The remaining family members greeted the three newcomers with 'hello' and 'welcome' and 'good to have you home.'

The trio was then gathered into hugs given by each family member. Nessie loved how each one of her family members had a 'different' hug. They were all loving, but each personified the person. Alice's hug had been one filled with her bubbliness and excitement. Carlisle's was filled with his quiet strength and wisdom. Esme's hug was similar to that of her husband but added a level of grandmotherly sweetness and wholesomeness to it. The next hug came from Jasper. His hug was formal yet not as reserved as might be expected from the formalness of it. Nessie could feel Jasper's strength and courage in his hug but also the love and the soft spot he held for his beloved niece. She was next passed off to Emmett who naturally gathered her into a giant bear hug that only he could give. It was one that was full of his zest for life and his teddy bear nature. Finally, Nessie reached her 'second' mother. Nessie knew Rose's hugs were relatively reserved with most people, if she hugged them at all, but like she had when Nessie was born, Rose became a different person with her niece. Her hug was a motherly, kind one. One that Nessie knew would always show her just how deeply her aunt cared for her.

Bella and Nessie were quickly ushered into the house after the welcome home hugs were finished while Edward excused himself to pull his much-loved Volvo into the garage. Nessie gaped as she came into the house. It was just astonishing at how perfect it was in her eyes. It was new, but it was her family and that comforted her. Yet at the same time, she could feel the foreboding and overwhelming feeling of change hitting her. She loved and hated change. She loved new experiences and new adventures yet she dreaded the unknown and the unanticipated. In the car her fears had dissipated, but it had begun to return when they stood on the front step. And now it was stronger as she felt the overwhelming sense of change in the foyer. She loved the new house, but she hated that they would have to settle in and make it their own with some memories. The house in Denali had not had this problem because it was still relatively set up when they arrived from Forks in 2015 and still had the 'Cullen feel' to it. And Nessie had heard stories of the Cullens' life in Denali before returning to Forks in 2003 so she had sudo-memories to associate with the house. But the Ipswich house lacked the all-important memories yet to be established by anyone in the family.

"C'mon, squirt," Emmett beckoned Nessie pulling her out of her brooding. She had not realized she was standing in the foyer gaping. "Quit pulling an Edward and c'mon. You seriously do not wanna turn into your boring old dad." Her uncle grinned at her as sauntered over to her. He was excited as always, but Nessie seemed to think that his excitement was bit greater than normal. Strange. Once he had crossed over to her, Emmett slung an arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently before guiding her into the living room where the rest of the family stood chatting.

"Ness, we took all of your things up to your room from the packing truck. Alice desperately wanted to unpack everything and get your room all set up for you, but I figured you might want to do it yourself. We can certainly help you if you want the help, though," Rose informed Nessie when she noticed her niece joining the family.

"But, Rooooossse!" Alice whined. "Nessie might have wanted to have her room set up and finished by the time she got home. Then she would not have to think about it and only enjoy school." Nessie looked over at Jasper standing next to Alice dwarfing her. She caught his gaze and he rolled his eyes lovingly. Nessie giggled and looked up at Emmett who still stood next to her. Emmett felt his niece's slight body tremble with her giggles and grinned down at her. He then shared a glance with his brother and the trio shared the hilarity of the moment with each other in silence.

"Alice," Rose began firmly, her face becoming rigid and hard with irritation, "I know that Nessie likes to do it herself. She did in Denali, and I'm quite sure she will want to do it again." The blonde placed her hands on her hips and glared at her sister.

Alice opened her mouth to respond to her sister's comment, but Nessie stepped away from Emmett and put both her hands up to quiet them both. "It's alright. Either would have worked fine for me. And I would love help from both of you. Thank you for thinking of me," Nessie responded, diffusing the situation between her aunts.

"Thank you, Sweetheart," Carlisle told his granddaughter. He smiled at her gently. His smile thanked her for diffusing the situation between her aunts. "Now, I think it is appropriate that we show you your surprise before your uncle explodes from his anticipation," Carlisle changed the subject.

Nessie had forgotten all about the surprise her parents had mentioned earlier in the shadow of the anticipation over the new house, and she glanced over at Emmett's beaming face. He did indeed look like he was about to explode from anticipation. So that is what he was so excited about. She laughed at her uncle's excitement and joined her arm up with his as well as Jasper's when her other uncle walked over to join them.

The family then meandered out to the garage with Nessie on the arms of her favorite uncles. The garage was not connected to the house as it was too big and would not add to the look of the house. Rather, it was about 50 feet from the house partially around the back side of the circular driveway. Nessie had not noticed it before but there was a small pond with a fountain in the center island of the circular driveway. It was built of stone and was surrounded by several poplar trees. Nessie knew that come springtime, Esme would be out planting flowers around her gorgeous fountain.

As they got closer to the garage, the main door opened up and Edward walked out of the garage to join the rest of his family as they walked closer to him. Nessie smiled at her father from where she stood between her two uncles. She then glanced through the garage trying to figure out what her family had done. What could possibly be going on in the garage that would be such a wonderful surprise? She saw Alice's yellow Porsche 911 Turbo, Emmett's silver Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, Edward's black Volvo XC60, Carlisle's black Mercedes S55 AMG, Edward's black Aston Martin Vanquish, and Bella's silver Audi R8 as well as a few other vehicles the family had acquired in her lifetime.

Nessie then saw a new car that had not traveled down from Denali. She pulled her arms out of Jasper and Emmet's arms and slowly walked over to it. As she got closer, she took notice that it was a Dodge Challenger. And not just any Dodge Challenger but a 2009 Dodge Challenger with the SRT8 convertible package. Nessie knew this was the top of the line model Challenger for that year. The car was the Hemi Orange Pearl color straight from the factory with dual racing stripes running side by side up the top of the car.

She slowly turned around to look at her family not believing that this could possibly be her surprise. She squeaked out a "Whose is this?" as her eyes grew wider and her jaw dropped open.

"It's yours, Pumpkinheart," Carlisle told her, smiling widely and kindly at his granddaughter. She looked at the faces of all the Cullens and she could see their excitement for her. Jasper looked a little overwhelmed by Nessie's feelings of intense satisfaction and excitement at the prospect of the car being her's. She whispered a quick sorry to her uncle before he told her that he was fine.

Once she made sure he was okay, her excitement picked up again and she squealed and skipped into the garage over to the car. The family joined Nessie in the garage as she began circling her new baby. Rose started telling Nessie all about the various things she had made sure were installed on the car to make it an even cooler car and as up to date as possible. Then Emmett interrupted her to tell Nessie all about the totally tricked out sound system which earned him a killer glare from his wife. Rose handed Nessie the keys, and Nessie wandered back around to the driver's side.

"This is so awesome, guys. I can't tell you just how excited I am. Thank you!" All the couples stood together holding hands or leaning into each other as they watched Nessie's giddiness. "Can I take her for a quick spin? Pwease?" she asked, looking at her parents.

"Alright," Edward grinned lovingly at her and Bella nodded sweetly at their daughter.

Nessie did an Alice impression as she jumped up and down lightly and clapped her hands. She quickly climbed into the car and put the key in the ignition. The Challenger roared to life giving Nessie chills as she listened to her baby purr.

The Cullens moved out of the way as Nessie pulled out of the garage and into the driveway. She then floored it and took off up the drive toward the road leading back into Ipswich. As she drove toward town, she began playing with some of the special systems Rose had mentioned earlier such as the Sirius satellite radio and the GPS system. Nessie spent the next hour playing around with her new car and exploring the new area around the place that she would now call home.

Once she finally returned to the house, it was completely dark. Several hours had passed since she had left. Since it was getting late, Nessie headed in to the kitchen to get something to eat for dinner after she checked her baby out one more time for good measure.

Nessie had not liked eating human food hardly at all as a child, but as she grew older, she had nightmares about her birth and her mother's resulting death. She could remember seeing and tasting her mother's blood, and it sickened her to no end. She also could no longer hunt with Jake and he was the only one she had over wanted to hunt with. So, now she only drank when her thirst became too much which was only about every month or two. And she had grown to like human food and was in fact rather fond of it

Naturally, the family appreciated this. Nessie was different from them, and they thought in their eyes, it kept her from being the monster they believed that they were. Esme especially enjoyed Nessie's taste for human food because she loved to cook and so she spent many hours during her quiet days cooking up delicious food for Nessie to have for her meals. As she often did, Nessie found her grandmother fixing her dinner.

"Hi Nanna," Nessie said. She looked around the kitchen – similar layout to the kitchen in the Forks house. Esme did not particularly like her kitchen layout to change so it was one of the few things that never changed from house to house.

"Hi, Sweetie. Enjoy your drive?" Esme looked up from her working cutting up some peppers.

"Oh, definitely. The car is a dream and drives just like one," Nessie's face drew into a bright grin at the thought of the Challenger. "I'm just blown away that it's mine. Figured it might be awhile before I got my own car. Or one that I did not have to share with my parents. Or one that did not look like a soccer mom car. Don't know where Dad got the idea that I might want his car. Ick! Not cool at all." Nessie wrinkled her nose at the thought having to drive her father's car or claim it as her own. Edward loved the car so she seriously doubted he would have ever given it to her, but even so, she still could not stand the idea of owning a 'soccer mom car.'

Esme laughed at her granddaughter's nickname for her father's car. "Well, your parents weren't real keen on the idea of you getting a car. And if they did, they were hoping to get you something similar to the Volvo that would be safer. You have your uncles to thank for saving you from that one. They argued that you were a young woman starting high school for the first time and oughta look like ya fit the part of a high school sophomore," Esme's voice deepened at the last part in an attempt to mimic her oldest son's slight Texas lilt. Nessie giggled at her grandmother's Jasper impression. "And they argued that a soccer mom car would not fit that bill at all."

"I take most of that was Jazz's argument and not Em's?"

"True, true. Emmett simply 'borrowed' Jasper's logic and ran with it," Esme smiled while using hand quotations. "Want eggs with some onion, peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and bacon in it?" Esme asked changing the subject to Nessie's dinner.

"Yes, please, Nanna! That sounds wonderful."

"Toast?" Esme asked as she pushed the peppers into the skillet from the plate where they had been cut up on. All the other aforementioned ingredients were already cooking together and the peppers were the only things missing from the skillet.

"Sure, but I can get it." She hopped of the stool and set off to find the toaster under one of the counter's lower cabinets. Nessie loved her grandmother's willingness to cook for her, but sometimes she felt guilty with everyone always doing so much for her. She knew that most people her age did not receive this kind of treatment, and it made her feel pretty spoiled and that was the last thing Nessie ever wanted to be. Paul had called her that once years ago, and ever since then, she strove to avoid that label without causing her family too much grief. The family never knew what sparked this; Nessie simply told them she wanted to be a bit more independent and less coddled which was true but it obviously was not the whole truth. Had she told them about what Paul said, they would have had a serious conniption. And in reality, Jake had taken care of Paul on patrol one evening after he had learned of it from Quil when he had been on patrol with Paul on the same day Paul had said this to Nessie.

"Alright. How do you like the house, Sweetie? You didn't say anything before you left for your drive?" Esme asked as she worked with the eggs while Nessie finally found the toaster under the cabinet and them retrieved the bread, peanut butter, and chokecherry jam from their respective homes in the kitchen.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier, Nanna. You know how I can get. I just got a little overwhelmed with the, uh, changes and it being so new compared to the other houses."

"I know, Sweetheart. It's hard sometimes with all the change. But change can be a very good thing. It can allow you to start anew with a clean slate. Don't dwell on what you can't have or what you've lost; rather, focus on the wonderful new things you can experience." The two women had stopped what they were doing and just looked at one another.

"I know, Nanna. It's hard sometimes. I want so badly to share these experiences with Jake. I just miss him so much. I can imagine him being here with me and talking to me about everything and making me feel better and easing my concerns and feels. I know it's been almost ten years, but I still…" Nessie's voice choked with unshed tears.

"…miss him and wish he were here with you," Esme finished. She took Nessie into her arms as the previously unshed tears began to flow. Esme felt Nessie nod in their embrace.

After a few moments, Nessie pulled away enough to look at her grandmother's face. "It's not even really the house. I think the car is what pushed me over the edge. It's exactly what I wanted. It's the same car he and I talked about me getting someday, and we would fix it up together. I mean it's exactly what we had talked about when I was little. I just wish he could see it, and I wish he could enjoy all the new stuff I'm gonna experience with school and everything," Nessie hiccupped out. She pulled away from Esme and noticed her parents standing in the doorway.

"I figured this might happen sometime today. He loved you very much, my little Angel. He wanted you to be happy, and he would be very pleased for you," Edward approached his daughter and led her around to the other side of the bar to sit on one of the stools. Once she was seated, Edward and Bella sat down on either side of her on stools as Esme dished up Nessie's eggs and finished preparing the toast.

"I know, Daddy. I just wish he could talk to me. He always made things better for me whether he actually could or not. We would talk things out and I knew things would be okay," she said between bites after Esme passed the full plate to her.

"But he can't, Baby. I know it's hard." Bella gently rubbed her daughter's back in a circular pattern helping Nessie to relax.

"And he's not here," Nessie hiccupped again.

"Oh but he is, Baby Girl. He's right here," Bella put a finger under Nessie's chin and used her other hand to point to the place right over Nessie's heart. "You will always have your memories of him. And he will never leave you. He'll always be your guardian angel."

"I know, Momma," Nessie leaned over on her mother's shoulder forgetting all about her dinner. Bella continued to rub Nessie's back with one hand and began running her fingers through Nessie's hair. These sorts of things were the kinds of things that had always calmed Nessie down, especially when she was a little girl.

"Why don't you finish your dinner and get to bed? You've had a big day, and you're over-tired. Things always look a lot worse than they normally do when you're tired," Edward told her after Nessie had completely quieted down.

"Okay, Daddy." Nessie pulled herself away from her mother and began picking at the rest of her food. Her parents went upstairs to finishing getting Nessie's room ready for her to sleep in it as Rose and Alice had done nothing to prepare it because of their bickering with one another.

When Nessie cleaned her plate up, Esme took her dishes to the kitchen sink and continued working on cleaning the kitchen up.

"Thank you for dinner, Nanna. And thanks for the talk. It may not seem like it, but it does help to talk about it." Nessie walked around the island to her grandmother and hugged her tightly. She could talk to anyone in her family easily but her grandmother listened to what she had to say the very best of all the Cullens. Esme Cullen was certainly a good listener.

"Anytime, Sweetie. Anytime." She hugged Nessie back, kissed her tenderly on the cheek, and gave her a gently push toward the kitchen door. "Now get to bed. Some sleep will do you a world of good." Nessie nodded and let out a quiet yawn in agreement. She walked to the door but halted in the door frame and turned around.

"Oh and Nanna, I love the house. It's perfect. It's very much a Cullen house, and I know it will be home soon enough." Esme smiled a grandmotherly smile at Nessie and then moved her hands in a 'shooing' motion. Nessie grinned back and headed up the stairs.

Nessie looked around briefly as she climbed the stairs to the second level and then third levels. She already knew her way around the house based on the house plans she had seen on so many occasions before the big move from Denali. She decided to look around the house after school tomorrow in more detail. So she headed to the door off the third floor landing that opened to the small stairway that lead to her private alcove at the highest level of the house. She ascended quickly up the narrow stairway, and as she got closer she could hear her parents quietly disagreeing about something.

"Bella, it goes like this. Not like that." As Nessie walked in to the doorway, she saw her father motioning to the quilt on her bed. She noticed it was upside down.

"No, Edward. It goes the other way." Bella took the quilt and flipped it around the other way so the flowers in the quilt patches were pointed towards the headboard with the stems towards the footboard.

"Momma's right, Daddy," Nessie smiled at her father as the couple looked over at their daughter in the doorway. He raised an eyebrow at her before rolling his eyes at his girls. Nessie laughed and walked into her room. She glanced around the room quickly, noting the messy state of the room. There were cardboard boxes everywhere and her furniture was scattered around the room in random spots. After taking note of the clutter in her room, she began searching the room for her night things. She was really beginning to feel the stress of the day catching up with her and all she wanted to do was crawl into her warm familiar bed. Bella noticed Nessie's searching glance and pointed to the dresser.

"The rest of your things are in your bathroom." Nessie grabbed some pajamas from the dresser and went to the bathroom to change and get ready for bed.

A few minutes later, Nessie joined her parents in her room where they sat on her bed waiting for her. The two were conversing quietly enough that even Nessie's keen hearing could not catch pick up what they were discussing.

"We figured you might want us to tuck you in. I know you're a little old for this…" Bella trailed off sheepishly.

"Thanks, Momma. I'd really like that." Nessie smiled and walked over to her bed. Her parents stood, and Bella pulled the quilt and sheets up to let Nessie crawl in. She crawled in and settled in on her pillow. Bella tucked the sheets and quilt around Nessie's body like she had when she was a little girl. She then sat down next to Nessie. Edward followed his wife's action and then kissed Nessie on the forehead. He then began humming the lullaby he had written for Nessie when she was a little girl to help her to sleep. Bella stroked Nessie's hair like she had earlier in the evening.

Something felt wrong, though. Nessie glanced up at the headboard and noted that there was nothing on the dainty nail above her head. She interrupted his humming and her massaging movements with "Daddy, can you get my dreamcatcher out of my backpack?"

"Certainly, Angel." Edward hopped off the bed and got into Nessie's backpack. He retrieved the Native American artifact and hung it on the designer nail. Her parents resumed their previous actions, and Nessie began to drift off to calm, deep sleep comforted by the presence of her parents and her Jacob's unseen presence.

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A/N: Thanks for checking out this story. It is kinda different, but I thought it would be fun to see another Covenant/Twilight Crossover with Nessie at the center. I think the two universes have the potential to flow together really well without a lot of major adjustments to either universe.

Anyways, I hope this kind of conveyed the types of relationships Nessie has with her family members. In some stories, I notice that Nessie is only close to certain members of her family. I think she is close to each of them differently, but nevertheless close to them all equally. I wanna make sure I include them all in the story as it is appropriate without favoring any of them over any other.

Hopefully, the chapters will get longer as I continue. I'm working on making them longer and extending out events as they go. Do you guys think I ought to add some more dialogue?

By the way, the car color is one of the official car colors of the 2008 Challenger. Not sure if it's still available but you Google it still. And the song I prefer to think of as Nessie's Lullaby is Moonrise by Brian Cane. It's so sweet and I think it is just perfect for her.

Again thanks for checking the story out, and please review and let me know watcha think about anything about this story – both positive and negative!


	2. Spencer Academy

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the Covenant. I just borrow their characters and ideas and have a little fun with it for my own enjoyment – hopefully your's, too. Hahaha! ; )

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SPENCER ACADEMY

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Monday, August 29, 2023

"Wake up, wake up, wake up! First day of school, young lady! Time to get up and greet the wonderful, beautiful, and not-so-sunshiney day!" Emmett called through the attic door before barging through it and bouncing it off the wall.

"Five more minutes, Bear," Nessie mumbled. She pulled the quilt up over her head as Emmett reached one of the windows and yanked the curtains open to reveal the soft light that spilled through the overcast sky.

"Nope. Not gonna happen, Squirt." He walked over to the side of the bed and grinned down at his niece. Then he added a regal tone, with an eyebrow raised, "Today is your first day of school, and the fashionistas are gonna eat me alive if I don't have you outta bed and waiting for them to prepare you for your debut at Spencer Academy." He bowed low and then continued in a regular voice. "So, get that angelic posterior out of bed," he pulled the quilt off the bed, "and get goin'!" Emmett dropped the quilt on the floor at the end of her bed and huffed out of the room with a wink at her just as walked out the door.

"Argh! Why does he have to be such a pain in the butt?!?!" Nessie yelled as she pulled the pillow off her head and looked up at the canopy above her. This had been her bed as a girl growing up. Alice had made sure to purchase a bed that could serve as both a little girl's bed and then as a teenager's bed. The canopy had been pink gauzy silk when she was younger, but was now a light lavender gauzy silk. She loved her bed, and it felt so glad to be back in it – even if it meant being aroused by her Emmett alarm. "Why couldn't he be a normal uncle? Like Jazz? I didn't ask to have a brother!!!!!" Nessie cried to no one in particular. She grumbled some more.

But she did know better than to not heed her uncle's warning about her aunts. They could be terrifying when they embarked on a fashion crusade. So, Nessie climbed out of bed and found her slippers placed next to the edge of the bed. Edward must have placed them there last night. Only her daddy would do stuff like that. He was so thoughtful and just the most perfect daddy in the world.

She quickly slipped them on and padded across the hardwood floor to fetch the quilt Emmett had so rudely tossed to the floor. She quickly made up her quilt on the bed.

Nessie glanced around the room at the clutter. She could not wait to get her stuffed animals unpacked and all her pillows so her bed would look 'right.' She looked around at the various sized boxes and decided that she would unpack this evening when she got home from school. And she would have to make sure to get some help moving her furniture around and of course get the opinions of her aunts. She could have done it just as easily herself, but Nessie knew that it just pleased her aunts to no end to help their niece with things such as these. Much smarter to keep the peace in the Cullen household. Much safer, too.

She glanced around once more at the sad state of affairs of her room and shook her head before walking into her bathroom to shower. She hurried through the shower and toweled her hair dry. Nessie pulled on the charm bracelet that she had since she was a little girl and her rings. Then she pulled her uniform on for school. Shortly after that, her aunts joined her in her bathroom. Rose did her makeup, and Alice prepared Nessie with as many accessories as she could. Alice did not take the uniform concept well and was going pretty crazy with it. She had constantly complained to Carlisle and Esme about picking this school because of this problem. Alice argued that out of all the ones in the area, they picked the one that required uniforms. So, in as rebellious an act as she could muster, Alice started planning on how to accessorize and keep the Cullens as unique as possible. Alice not only wanted to stand out but she almost needed to stand out to be a happy camper.

Within about 45 minutes, the Cullen 'children' walked out the front door and out to the garage. Nessie shivered involuntarily at the thought of the cool fall day outside. She pulled her coat closer around her body as her body came into contact with the cool Atlantic breeze.

The seven Cullens walked into the garage together and formed a circle. "Well, here we go again. Just to be safe, let's go over our public relationships again," Edward stated. "Jasper and Rosalie are the Hale twins. Emmett, Alice, and Bella are the Cullens, and Nessie and I are the Masen siblings. Any questions?"

The group shook their heads in a collective no with a few nopes and nahs thrown in there. They split up and headed to their respective vehicles. Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie piled into Emmett's Jeep while Nessie headed toward her father's Volvo. Her parents, however, walked toward the Challenger.

"We thought we'd take your car for your first day of school, Baby girl," Bella told her daughter. Nessie gaped at her mother and then broke into a huge grin. She skipped over to her car and hopped in the driver's seat. Her mother took shotgun while her father got stuck in the back seat. Bella made sure it ended up that way. Nessie always seemed to get nervous when her father was shotgun because of his incessant nagging about Nessie's driving skills. Bella always found it funny because of just how crazy Edward's driving was – especially when comparing it with his daughter's driving ability.

"Well, this car is good car for you, but this back seat leaves a lot to be desired. It was definitely not designed for practical use," Edward grumbled as he tried to adjust his long legs to get them into a comfortable position. This was proving to be extremely difficult considering the minimal leg room in the back seat and then he added, "And certainly not for comfort."

Both girls giggled at him. "I certainly hope my baby is not a good car. It's a muscle car – it's supposed to be bad, Daddy," Nessie glanced at him in the rearview mirror and rolled her eyes at his old fashioned terminology. He raised an eyebrow in response to her comment, and his girls erupted into laughter again.

* * *

Once all the Cullens arrived at Spencer Academy, they grouped together in front of their vehicles. "Let's do this," Emmett hollered as they begin walking to the main entrance from the commuters' parking lot.

They walked into the building and began looking around at their new school. As always, they received looks from the other students and they could hear the various whispers about them. "Look at them. They're so gorgeous." and "Wow! Look at the blonde!" and "Are there any more of them?" The Cullen men tensed instantaneously. They all reacted differently. Jasper meshed his fingers with Alice's and Emmett grabbed Rose by the waist and pulled her so their sides were molded together. Edward's reaction was the most comical of them all. If Edward had been a cartoon, he would have steam blowing out his ears. Although, Bella thought her husband was functioning quite well considering he could hear every thought about their family – both good and bad.

Nessie used her gift to ask her mother what was wrong by touching Bella's hand lightly before pulling away again. "He's disturbed by the humans' thoughts about us – particularly the two of us and your aunts," Bella whispered only loud enough for a vampire's keen ears to pick up. Edward glanced over at them and nodded his head in agreement with his wife's statement. He promptly put his arm around his wife following the lead of his brothers' to hang on to their wives.

Nessie giggled and followed behind the rest of her family. She knew boys would be falling all over themselves for her mother and aunts and the girls would be swooning over her father and uncles. She just thought the amount of attention paid to her family members was hilarious. It just made her day even more comical to know that these humans were in fact drooling over the very beings that preyed on them. It was like a mouse drooling over a cat – just ridiculous!

"Hey there, Beautiful." The arm attached to the voice reached out to Nessie and lightly grabbed her arm. All of the Cullens turned quickly to face the voice that had spoken to Nessie. All of their faces masked the anger they felt coursing through them at the boy's blatant disrespect for Nessie. Nessie followed the lead of her family by turning toward him.

"Uh, hi," Nessie responded shyly. Her face showed her surprise at being the first one of the Cullens to be receiving direct attention from anyone in the Spencer Academy student body. She knew she was pretty, but she also understood that she lived in the shadow of the good looks of her family – particularly the female members of her family. They were drop dead gorgeous, and Nessie understood that. It did not enter her reasoning, however, that because they were vampires, there was a certain amount of fear and hesitation that came with it. Nessie, on the other hand, was half human and so maintained the appeal of her vampiric beauty but her humanity helped to eliminate the natural fear factor on the part of most humans.

"I'm Aaron Abbott. You're new, aren't you?" the boy asked her. His hair was brown and looked kinda nasty. Dirty-like you could say.

"Yeah," Nessie tried to shift her arm out of his grasp with human strength rather than her full vampire-like strength. It was without success. She looked up at him out of the top of her eyes attempting to avoid eye contact. She pulled again, but he would not release her. Edward stayed back with the rest of the family until he heard the discomfort and unease in his daughter's thoughts, and then he was immediately at her side glaring at the annoying boy.

"What's your name?" Abbott persisted, continuing to hold her arm and pulled her a little closer to him so she only stood inches away from him.

"That's enough, Aaron. Can't you even let them get settled into school before you start harassing their sisters?" Two other boys joined them. One had short dark hair while the other had longer dirty blond hair.

"I don't think that's any of your concern, Danvers. I was just starting up a friendly conversation with, uh … what was your name?"

"Her name is Nessie. Now, let go of my sister's arm," Edward said firmly, holding Nessie's elbow in his hand protectively. He gave Abbott one of his classic vampire stares. The boy quickly released Nessie's arm. He then backed up so fast that he tripped over his own feet falling on his butt. Nessie giggled at this, receiving a glare from Abbott. Edward raised an eyebrow at the boy, before he scampered off.

The boy who had told Abbott off approached the Cullens with his friend. "Hey! I'm Caleb Danvers. You guys are the new kids, right?" The boy had dark hair and a kind face as he approached and held his hand toward Edward. Nessie thought he reminded her of a Boy Scout but not in a negative way – mostly.

"Yes, we are," Edward told the boy kindly. He smiled at Caleb and shook his hand. "Thank you for your help."

"You're very welcome. This is my friend Pogue Parry." He motioned to his friend who wore a kind smile on his face. Two boys walked by and Caleb motioned for them to join the group. The blond gave Caleb a glare. The two must have had a falling out unless of course they were not friends. He then noticed the Cullens and his face quickly shifted into a friendly one. "And this is Reid Garwin and Tyler Simms." He motioned first to the blond with the mischievous smirk and then to the shy-looking brown haired boy following the other boy.

"Nice to meet you all," Edward nodded. "We're the adopted children of Dr. Carlisle Cullen. I'm Edward Masen, and this here is my sister, Renesmee. That is Emmett Cullen and his sisters Alice and Bella. And these are the Hale twins, Jasper and Rosalie." Edward motioned his hand, the one that he was not holding onto his daughter with, gracefully to each one of the Cullens as the four boys followed Edward's hand along and nodded at each in turn.

"Nice to meet you, too," Caleb replied before asking, "Where were you all headed?"

"We were heading to the administrative offices to get our class schedules. Would you be able to point us in the right direction?" Bella asked.

"Well, sure. We could even help you guys find your classes, if you want," came from Reid, who grinned. The Cullen men tightened their grasp on their wives as they watched Reid grin at the girls. They could already tell he liked the ladies a little more than the other guys. Edward instantly knew that this boy would have to be watched carefully – especially around his little angel.

"That would be great," Nessie answered cheerily somewhat oblivious to Reid's flirty nature. She was simply excited to meet some nice people.

The group set off down the hall toward the administrative offices. She liked these guys. They did not leer at the Cullen women or her like Abbott did. Abbott made Nessie feel like a piece of meat that should be devoured by guys. It did not take Nessie long to pull herself out of her excited state to recognize Reid's flirtatious manner. Besides, he was only a boy … boys do that. As long as he kept his hands (and flirtatiousness) to himself, Nessie was a happy camper.

Nessie detached herself from her father's grasp and slowed her pace some so that she was a few steps behind her family again. She liked it better that way. And it was a little awkward being guided around by your 'brother's' hand on your elbow. Reid and Tyler fell into step with her behind the rest of the Cullens and Caleb and Pogue.

Nessie guessed that these two were closer than they either of them were individually with the other two and vice versa just from their interactions and body language. They just seemed to gravitate together. And they were together just like Caleb and Pogue had been when they first ran into the Cullens. She observed the two for a minute until she noticed that Reid was returning her gaze.

She felt her cheeks go bright red and ripped her eyes away from his. She hated the curse her mother had 'blessed' her with, as her father put it. He always loved Bella's blush, and subsequently, loved his daughter's because of the reminder of Bella's humanity. Just like it had been for her mother, it was a dead giveaway of a change in her feelings, and she hated that she could not hide her changes in emotions and feelings like the rest of her family could with their cool vampire demeanor and pale skin. Her blush was one of the many banes of her existence.

For a second, she had thought he might just ignore it, but instead he reacted to it. His grin brightened. Drat! Nessie increased her pace to catch up with her family to avoid the awkward situation she felt coming on. Reid followed her lead and then Tyler did as well when he noticed Reid ditching him to catch up with the copper haired girl. Tyler grabbed Reid and pulled him back a little bit behind Nessie. The two were whispering so Nessie pulled ahead to give them privacy, knowing she could have easily listened on them. She always believed it was not right to use her vampiric gifts against those who were at a disadvantage – at least as long as they were not threatening her or those important to her.

She snuck a glance back at the duo and saw Tyler pat Reid on the back heartily. Reid then whacked Tyler across the head for what he said. Reid glared at him and then looked up to see Nessie watching them again. He grinned and jogged to catch up with her and the rest of the group. He opened his mouth to ask her something but realized they were at the administrative office. It could wait until she came back out. Nessie smiled a small smile and joined her family as they walked into the office. Reid waited outside the door with the other guys.

The Cullens walked into the office while the boys waited outside. Once they had each received a schedule, they congregated back in the hall with their new friends. They began going over their class schedules with the boys.

"We're both in World History with Miss Jackson," Edward said, looking at his wife.

"Sweet. That is on our way to Chemistry," Pogue answered for him and Caleb. "We can take you that way if ya like." They then found that Jasper and Emmett were also in Chemistry.

Alice and Rosalie had dance class first which Caleb and Pogue's girlfriends were both taking. Tyler's French class was right across the hall from the dance class so he would introduce them before heading off to class.

"Uh huh. You just wanna go see all those girls in the class. Maybe you can get a date," Reid teased his friend. Tyler shot him a glare before grinning at his friend. Caleb and Pogue rolled their eyes at their friends' bantering.

Nessie then glanced down at her schedule and saw that her first class was Drawing. "And I'm in Drawing," she stated quietly. She was not too unhappy that her first class was not with anyone in her family, but it might have been nice to be in a class with one of these guys. She did not like not knowing anyone. It was always awkward having to introduce yourself to complete strangers – especially when they took an interest in you because you were the new kid from the huge family.

"I'm taking that, too. Now you'll have company," Reid told her. She grinned brightly at him. She thought Reid was kind of cute even for his flirtatious manner. Edward gaped and clenched his fists. He did not appreciate the young man's thoughts about his daughter or his daughter's thoughts about Reid.

"Don't worry, Eddie. I'll protect your beloved sister," Reid saluted mockingly toward Edward, who grimaced at the nickname and the thoughts going through his head at the moment. Reid then glanced at Nessie and grinned at her. She smiled back shyly.

"Thanks, man," Emmett told him. "We appreciate it," came from Jasper at the same moment as Emmett's thanks. Emmett and Jasper both turned toward their brother and gave him a lightning fast look that only the vampires could see.

"Yes, thank you," Edward grumbled half-heartedly. Bella touched her husband's arm and they joined the others as they headed off. The rest of the group's classes were in the same direction so they all headed off together.

"Miss Masen," Reid offered his arm to Nessie exaggeratedly. She giggled at his antics before glancing back at her family once more. Edward stopped when she glanced back and she could see her father's eyes bug out. Bella felt her husband stop and pull his arm away from her's, and so, she promptly turned around and pulled him along with her whispering in his ear. Nessie thought she heard her mother say that something about "she's not a child anymore" and "she knows what she's doing" and "you have to let you grow up." Nessie smirked at her father's reprimand from his wife. She would have to thank Bella at lunch.

"Thank you, Mr. Garwin," she curtsied in return, ignoring her family once again. She then took his arm and they strode off down the hall together.

"So, Renesmee … that's a unique name. Family name?" Reid asked her. He glanced over at her again to see her smile.

"Yeah, it is unique. And it's kind of a family name," she replied hesitantly. Her previous gutsiness was gone and she was a little nervous. She had never really been around guys much except for the wolf pack and the guys in her family. And in her mind, none of those guys counted as 'real guys.' And a cute guy only made her nervousness worse. "It's an amalgamation of my mother's name and my grandmother's name. My mother's name is Esme, and my grandmother's name is Renee. You put 'em together and you get Renesmee. It's kind of…" Nessie yammered on before realizing she was rambling and shut up. She always did that when she was nervous. She mentally slapped herself.

"That's pretty sweet. Reid's pretty boring," he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and winked. Nessie shook her head in disagreement.

"I disagree. It's a nice strong name."

"Uh huh," he rolled as his eyes. "Renesmee…" Reid rolled it off his tongue trying it again. He liked the way it sounded.

"Please call me Nessie," she smiled shyly. "It's a lot better than Renesmee."

"Like the Loch Ness Monster?" he asked with an incredulous look.

"Sort of. Jake nicknamed me that when I was a baby. He said my name was much too big for such a little girl so he nicknamed me Nessie. Then Mom almost killed him for it – didn't really want a daughter named after the Loch Ness Monster." She stopped for a moment realizing she was rambling again. "I'm sorry. I started rambling again. I do that when I'm nervous. I get jittery and chatty."

"That's alright. It's actually pretty cute," Reid grinned at her again. "Who's Jake, by the way? Boyfriend?" he grimaced at this one and then added with a smirk and eyebrows raised, "Ex-boyfriend?"

"Oh," she glanced down at her moving feet. Her breathing hitched at the thought of her Jacob. Her heart ached as she glanced down at the bracelet on her wrist and the glimpse of the wooden wolf. "Uh, something like that. I don't really wanna talk about it, though."

"Oh okay. Sorry," he apologized. "Didn't mean to bring something bad up."

"No, it's not that. It's just hard for me to talk about him is all," she explained still looking at her feet.

He nodded solemnly. "Anyways, here's our stop." He released her arm and pulled the door open for her. He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her into the classroom. Then he led her to a table at the back of the room.

The pair sat down next to each other. Reid leaned his chair back so that he was leaning back on the two back legs only. He glanced over at Nessie and gave her a quick encouraging smile. She smiled back shyly before focusing all her attention on the teacher. Guess they would not be chatting or passing notes like Reid had hoped. Oh well. Oughta give her some time. Maybe next class… he thought with the usual smirk gracing his face.

* * *

"So, what did ya think of your first class, Ness?" Reid asked her as they grabbed the drawing instructional book they had been given for the class as well as the list of supplies they would need to pick up in town for the rest of this class. He glanced at the class schedule she had in front of her before she could reply and commented that he was in it as well. He grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes and answered his initial question. "I enjoyed it very much. I think it'll be a fun class, but I'm not sure how much I'll learn. I already know a lot of the stuff she said we'll cover this semester," Nessie commented.

"Well, that'll just make it easier when ya skip," Reid winked at her.

"Oh. I don't think I'll skip classes," she replied timidly. "I'd rather not disrespect the teacher's time and effort. And you never know what you'll learn. It may only be the smallest of things, but anything is worth doing if you learn something from it, no matter how miniscule the amount of knowledge may be."

"Ah ha. So, you're one of those kinds of students – the dedicated straight-A type. Figured that might be the case. That'll just make my job a little harder."

"Your job?" Nessie tipped her head to the side, a habit she had picked up from her best friend when she was a little girl. Reid was positively loving her naivety.

Time to kick up the flirt factor. Reid grinned slyly at her innocent face and said, "To get you to lighten up, of course. You only live once, Babycakes, and once it's over, it's over. Might as well make the most of your time and have a little bit of fun." He grinned mischievously at her with a bit of a wicked glint in his eye. It wasn't mean or evil just a glint of troublemaking stood behind it.

"Babycakes?" she asked with a skeptical look out of the top of her eyes. She folded her arms across her chest to emphasize her annoyance. Nessie knew the blond had been flirting lightly with her since before Drawing but it had not been enough to bother her. _Babycakes? _That stepped over the line. Her father had communicated to her that he was a playboy before he left, but she was not sure she agreed then. But now she knew Reid Garwin was indeed a flirty playboy. She would not let him pull anything over on her, though.

"Yeah. Don't like it?" he replied with a cocky tone.

"No. Not really," she responded sarcastically. She narrowed her eyes at him and stared hard at him.

"Okay. Then how about 'Gorgeous?'" he continued.

"Nope."

"'Beautiful?'"

She shook her head no before beginning to walk off away from him in the direction she believed her Biology class was in. She knew the number of the room and figured it was off in this direction.

"Wait,wait." He reached for her arm lightly and just brushed it to stop her from leaving. "Just give me a sec. Mmmmm. Then how about…" he touched his lips and chin with his index finger and tapped it, thinking, "…I think on it for awhile and get back to ya."

"Alright, fine. If you insist," she grumbled. He smirked at her before guiding her into this class which they also shared.

* * *

"Alright. I got it," came a voice from behind Nessie where she stood in the hall outside her Latin class.

"Got what?" After Biology, Reid helped her find her Latin class and luckily it was close by so she could leave his presence as soon as she could. She was still pretty annoyed with him at that point, especially after he managed to make himself her lab partner for the semester. Anyways, she could have found Latin herself, but Reid insisted on escorting her and helping her find it. And then he made her promise to wait for him after her class got out. She did so to get him to go away, but since she did make a promise, she had to hold true to it even though she really wanted to ditch him and escape his annoying flirting.

"A nickname for you, of course. You can't turn this one down. How about Sunshine?"

"Sunshine? Why Sunshine?" she asked. It was not at all flirty like the others had been. It did not make any sense to her. And the idea that she was sunshine was crazy in Nessie's mind. If anyone looked like sunshine or reminded her of it, it was her aunt Rose when she was having an exceptionally good day – which was not very often. Her beauty combined with a kind demeanor did wonders for her, and Nessie honestly thought her aunt was exuding rays of sunshine when she was like that.

"You just make me think of happiness and sunshine and that sorta girly crap," Reid quickly improvised. He would not tell her the real reason behind it – she brightened any room she walked into; she brightened his day; her smile made him feel like he had died and gone to heaven.

His smile did drop a little when she stood there with the questioning look persisting. His face transformed into what looked like uncertainty. He was trying to impress her - that much Nessie knew. But she knew that he did genuinely like her or he would not have come up with a nice, sweet nickname for her. She also recognized that this bad boy, tough guy persona was a façade for those he did not care about. It would not have been noticeable to anyone without her learned talent at reading people, one she had learned from her father's own special gift at reading people. She learned from what he had told her about others through his ability to read their minds. She sensed that Reid Garwin was in fact pretty sensitive to those he cared about and was extremely loyal to them no matter what they faced. He just came across as a jerk when he did not care at all about you or for you.

"No, it's fine. It's actually kind of nice," she quickly reassured him. As per her nature, she had to make sure those around her were okay – even when they annoyed her enough to drive her bonkers. And when they were not okay, she would go to any lengths to fix it so they would be okay again. Her response brought on a sweet, genuine smile from the boy walking next to her.

"Well, I'm your friend so I can give you a nickname," he justified, picking up the flirting once again. "Deal schmeal?" Reid's sweet grin immediately shifted back into the cocky one he had been wearing before.

"Sounds good to me." She shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. She then looked around and noticed the lockers around them lining the hall. "I'd probably better drop this stuff off at my locker." Nessie glanced down at the drawing book, her two Biology textbooks, and the Latin workbook and textbook she had accrued since the beginning of the morning. She grabbed the piece of paper out of her back pocket where it had been living since she had first received it at the administrative office earlier that morning. It had her class schedule as well as her locker number on it. "283," she told Reid.

"That's pretty close to mine. Only a few lockers away in fact," Reid told her. He led her to her locker once they located it.

"Here. Let me take those for you," Reid shifted his books to one arm and motioned for her to hand him her books. Nessie knew she could handle it herself, but she figured that she should take him up on his offer. She had to maintain the helpless _human_ girl pretenses after all.

"Thanks, Reid." Nessie handed him her books. She quickly glanced down at the paper again to get her combination. She then spun the lock deftly around in the proper combination. The lock separated. She opened the door, and Reid set her books inside. She held on to her book bag she had been carrying all morning. Inside it was her pencils, a notebook, and other supplies she would most assuredly need for the rest of her classes. "Thanks," she said after he set the books inside and she shut her locker door.

"Welcome. C'mon - my locker's right over here." He moved a few feet away to his locker. He promptly unlocked it and opened it, faster than Nessie thought possible for a human. She shook her head, thinking she was losing her mind. Reid placed his books inside his locker. Nessie then walked over to his locker, feeling a little lost with all the people swarming around her. Her feelings of overwhelm and unease flooded her.

"So, what classes do you have before lunch?" Reid asked Nessie, turning back to her. His voice relaxed her almost instantly. She knew him and that comforted her.

"Just American Government." Reid walked around her and put his left hand on Nessie's left shoulder. He looked over her other shoulder at her schedule she was looking over again. She looked over at his face, which was almost uncomfortably close to her own. He was examining her afternoon schedule as well, she noted.

"So do I. I think Tyler does, too," he glanced down at her, still standing behind her and just behind her right shoulder. "And so do Pogue and Caleb," he narrowed his eyes when he mentioned his other friends.

"Somethin' going on between you guys?" she asked pulling away from Reid. She turned around to face him, putting about a foot of space between them to make her comfortable again.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Caleb and I don't always get along the greatest. We tend to butt heads a lot," he explained with a narrowing of his eyes at the two boys as Nessie followed his gaze to notice Caleb and Pogue walking into a class room just down the hall from them.

"Oh," she looked at the floor. "Sorry."

"It's alright. It always blows over in the end," he rolled his eyes before smirking at her. "He's just an annoying Boy Scout sometimes."

"That's good. Well, class is about to start. Let's hop to it," Nessie answered, skipping off in an attempt to lighten the tenseness between them. He laughed at her and followed her down the hall before seeing Tyler coming from the other direction. He stopped to wait for his friend. Nessie followed Reid's lead and then the trio walked into the classroom together.

* * *

The rest of her classes flew by for Nessie. She loved her classes and the learning she was able to do. Granted, there were not a lot of things for her to learn because of all the schooling she had already received from all her family members. Nevertheless, her classes did not come nearly as easy to her as they did for the rest of her family. But she also had only learned this stuff only once while most of them, with the exception of her mother, had been through it on multiple occasions. So, Nessie had to pay a bit more attention than the rest of the Cullens, and she had to work a wee bit harder at her class work, too.

She spent lunch with her family after having watched Reid and Tyler act like morons in American Government. She had to escape them at lunch because they were driving her crazy and so sought the solitude and sanity of her family. It was a sad day when she thought that the antics of Emmett were sane. Reid had not been too bad by himself in their other classes. He did act up some in their prior morning classes, but when he was paired with his best friend, things could get ugly and insane. They sat through class passing notes to all the girls in the near vicinity. They even tried chatting Nessie up with their suave notes, but she had just rolled her eyes at them and ignored them.

After lunch, she had Trigonometry with her parents and Alice before her last class of the day. This class was with Reid as well as with Pogue and Caleb. She sat with Reid only because she did not really know Caleb and Pogue and he of course badgered her with notes. Now that he had been with Tyler for the last few hours, he was completely and utterly out of control with his flirtatious mannerisms. She was somewhat annoyed when he sat down and shot Caleb and Pogue this obnoxious look. It seriously embarrassed her. He grinned back at her and her response was to roll her eyes at his immaturity. He continued to make obnoxious faces at his friends until right after their instructor mentioned they would also be studying Stephen King. Reid, naturally, interrupted Mr. Waugh with his immature response. Nessie could not help but giggle a little. Reid was kind of cute when he was acting like this.

And it seemed the longer they knew each other, the more flirtatious and daring he got, especially after being with Tyler. After Mr. Waugh had everyone settled back down after Reid's interruption, Reid picked up the note passing to everyone and again he tried to chat with the copper haired girl sitting to his left. Nessie finally laid down the law after about ten minutes of him passing her notes that were left to unresponded on Nessie's part. Finally, she wrote him back but it was a short yet scathing note about not talking to her in class. He then wrote her back saying that he was not really talking to her; only writing to her. She glared at him, and he took the hint.

She finally began to enjoy Mr. Waugh's discussion on the books they would be reading over the course of the semester and the background he gave on each of the authors. She was really enjoying this class. Nessie was finally free from Reid's annoying flirting. She had figured he would not give up that easily and was somewhat surprised when he quit passing notes. Nessie recalled that he had given her a nice nickname this morning and maybe the genuine friendship she had begun to think she had imagine up this morning was really there.

Just before the class ended, Reid passed her another note. Too good to be true, Nessie thought. The note asked her if she wanted to come to their swim practice. She looked over at him between narrowed eyes. She ignored the note and focused on Mr. Waugh. She would give him a negative answer after class, assuming of course she could not sneak away before having to talk to him.

_You're mad at me. I kinda figured this was my only shot at asking you. Didn't want you to just leave after class without giving me a chance to talk to you._ He wrote in his sudo-sloppy handwriting and passed the note under the desk to her.

She grimaced at her predictability before glaring at him for writing to her. Stay strong! _Yeah. I am mad at you. You're driving me crazy. I wish you'd quit bugging me. I'm trying to pay attention unlike __**some**__ people. I do enjoy school, you know._ Nessie shoved it angrily back at the blond sitting next to her. She expected a flirty response back about the crazy part. If he did, she was going to seriously rip his head off – and perhaps not just figuratively. She took a deep breath and went back to listening to Mr. Waugh.

_I'm sorry. I didn't realize this was really that important to you. You mentioned it earlier but I thought you might not be quite so serious about it when we were actually in class. Sorry._ Reid passed the note back to her with a sheepish expression that apologized for him as well.

The bell rang as Nessie read his latest note. She narrowed her eyes at him after reading it and she sighed quietly.

"Forgive me?" He leaned over toward her, maintaining the sheepish look and adding a slight puppy lip to it.

Nessie's eyes softened and she smiled lightly. "Fine, you pain." She groaned at the grin that lit his face up like a Christmas tree. "I really do enjoy learning," she explained, "and I don't appreciate being distracted. You may not like it, but some people do."

He nodded. They both grabbed their things but before they could leave Nessie spoke up, "And one last thing – quit flirting with me. You are totally not fooling me, and it's getting annoying. I'm not some piece of meat that you can have some fun with and then drop like a hot potato," she told him poking him in the chest with her finger. She did not poke him too hard, but hard for a girl. And his chest did not give too much under the pressure. Nice…

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry for that, too. It's kind of a habit. I spend so much time around the guys that I don't really know how to relate to girls outside of flirting with 'em," Reid confessed. Nessie looked at him skeptically with raised eyebrows. "Honestly…" He raised his hands in his defense – and to keep her from whacking him, a real possibility in his mind. He had thought she was a timid nervous girl up until about forty-five minutes ago with the occasional ability to get a little annoyed, but this girl, wow, he would seriously be afraid of her if she really got mad.

"Okay. Thank you. And if you want, I'll help you learn how to treat girls better."

"That'd be great. You will be my first not-meat-and-potatoes girl." He laughed at his joked. "But ya better not tell anybody," he threatened mockingly while wagging his finger in her face. "This is gonna be our little secret. Don't want anybody to think that Reid Garwin is going soft. Got a rep to maintain here, Sunshine."

"Gotcha," she rolled her eyes in response. She gathered her books up again to leave the now empty classroom.

"So, you wanna come?" he asked again as they walked down the stairs to the main floor of the room.

"Where?"

"My swim practice, you dolt."

"Oh, I can't. The family wanted to head home right after classes today. Otherwise, I would, uh, be there," she looked up at him apologetically. She looked in his eyes. They were an icy blue that could almost pass off as gray.

"Okay. That's cool." Reid was somewhat disappointed she would not be there, but he was not about to show that to her. He enjoyed showing off for her, and he could not get enough of her smile when he did impress her. But he would show no weakness in his disappointment. "Maybe another time."

"Yeah, definitely," Nessie answered with a smile over at him as they headed. She would definitely enjoy seeing this guy in swim gear especially after she learned his chest would not crumple under her tough poking.

They walked the rest of the way to their lockers in silence. They reached Reid's locker first and he stopped and Nessie continued on to her locker. Reid finished returning his school things to his locker before she did and stopped by her locker. He leaned on the locker next to her's and watched her organize her books. She finished up by shutting her locker door and said "Bye, Reid."

"See ya, Sunshine!" he answered back. She smiled and adjusted her book bag on her shoulder. She turned away from him and headed down the hall leaving him by her now closed locker. Reid watched her until she disappeared from sight, hoping she might turn around and wave or do something to acknowledge his presence one last time before she left. Just as he was about to turn away to leave, he saw her peek around the corner and wave at him. He grinned at her antics but was jumping up and down inside with happiness. She laughed lightly and headed back around the corner. He laughed at her goofy antics and headed to the locker room and the pool.

Renesmee Masen was fascinating. She was innocent and sweet yet had a backbone and was ready to take him down several notches if necessary. She had him completely and totally baffled. What a girl!

* * *

A/N: Well, there's chapter 2 for you. Hope you all like it. I tried hard to keep Reid in character – let me know what you guys think and if I need to adjust him – or any of the characters for that matter.

Also, I would love for you all to review – it is such a huge encouragement to write. Thanks so much – oh and sorry there isn't much from the other Sons. My writing bug wanted to write Nessie and Reid. : )

And please let me know if there are any errors in my story. Albeit, grammatical, factual, continuity, or getting a character's personality wrong. Thanks!


	3. Her Grief

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the Covenant. I just borrow their characters and ideas and have a little fun with it for my own enjoyment – hopefully your's, too. Hahaha! ; )

Oh and I just worked some more on Chapter 1 and 2. I did not feel that they were as good as I could make 'em so I did a bit more work on them. : ) You don't have to go back and read them but I did make a few minor adjustments to fix some stupid errors and make the story (hopefully) flow better.

* * *

HER GRIEF

* * *

Nessie met up with her family at their vehicles in the lot designated for off campus students where they had parked that morning. She gave the group of Cullens a quick hi before leaving the group and walking over to the Challenger. She stood next to the driver's door waiting for her passengers. She smiled shyly at her family before quickly pulling her keys out of her jacket pocket as the family moved their way as a hive to the Jeep and the Challenger.

She glanced over at her parents before she got in. Edward gave his daughter a look that said that he and her mother would be talking to her about her day. From that look, she knew that he had already heard her thoughts about her day – predominantly her interactions with Reid. She had tried desperately to keep thoughts and memories of her day with Reid out of her mind, which she could normally do with ease. One had to know how to do this to survive a father with mind-reading abilities. It had been the only way that she and Jake had ever been able to do anything interesting like cliff-diving or riding his Sprinter when she was growing up. For some reason, though, thoughts of Reid would not stay out of her head and she could not block them out or cover them up with something else.

So, Nessie was very thankful when her aunts chose to hop in the Challenger preventing her parents – especially her father – from having said talk on the way home. Alice bounced into the back seat and Rose took the front. Nessie knew that they would be chit chatty so she interacted with them only as much as she had to even so she could continue to dwell on her day and how she would deal with the talk that was to come.

Alice blabbered on about how 'cute' the car was and just awesome it was for Nessie. Rose rambled about the various technical specs that she thought were exactly what Nessie needed. Nessie nodded at the appropriate times and added the occasional 'Really?' and 'Oh" to the conversation.

After a few minutes of this, Rose looked over at Nessie and asked, "What are you thinking? You act like you're listening, but I know you well enough to know that you aren't really listening to us. What's going on, Boo?" Rose's face was concerned about the body language Nessie had displayed earlier. She was nervous and fidgety and it seemed like she was having a hard time with looking her family in the eyes afraid they might read what was stewing under the surface.

"Oh, nothing," Nessie glanced over at her aunt with a small smile, trying to pull an innocent face.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen, do not lie to me. You couldn't pull off lying even if your life depended on it. Now," she started again, "what's wrong?" Her tone was much sterner this time and Rose punctuated every word in her question.

"Oh – just thinking about today. Met a lot of people – a little overwhelming is all," she told her. She was being entirely honest this time. Nessie would not mention any specifics unless she was asked directly. She did continue with talking about her parents. If she was too uncomfortable, she knew Rose would talk to her parents and she might be able to wiggle her way out of having the talk with her parents. "And honestly, I'm nervous about talking to Daddy and Momma. I saw Daddy's look, and I know we'll be talking when we get home. I just don't know how to deal with them or what to expect and…" she trailed off as she focused on the road once more realizing she was not paying attention.

"Oh, Ness. Your parents love you and they won't talk to you about anything unless they're concerned. It isn't about making you nervous or uncomfortable or anything like that. They only want to protect you and make sure you are okay," Alice explained.

"Oh…" Nessie thought about what Alice said then a look of epiphany flashed across her face. "Wait a second. Do you know what's going on?" Nessie asked glancing back at Alice for a brief second.

"Of course not. Edward hasn't even talked to your mom yet so naturally he hasn't told anyone else yet," she told Nessie with an innocent face.

Nessie slammed on the brakes and pulled over to the side of the road. Her aunt was lying and she knew it. "That's not what I meant, Alice," Nessie said harshly, taking her seat belt off so she could turn and face both her aunts at the same time. She was getting frustrated with her aunt not being truthful. "What did you see?"

"Nothing. You know I can't see your future," she replied with a perplexed expression.

"Well, you're right, but you CAN see blurs of what might be in my future, though. Just not actually me."

"Well, yes…" Alice admitted.

"Then what was it?" Nessie persisted.

"Nessie, the last time we saw you act like this, it was right after you turned 7," Rose spoke up before her sister could answer their niece.

"What are you talking about?" Nessie asked. Her anger transformed into confusion and then to realization at what they were talking about. Jake and their relationship.

"It isn't our place to talk to you about this, Nessie. It is your parent's right. And they just don't want you to get hurt, I know that."

"But Jake never hurt me," Nessie defended gravely, bringing him reluctantly into their conversation.

"Nessie, I know the mutt never meant to hurt you but he did." Rose answered.

"No, he didn't. He did not plan to die. It was our wedding day, Rose," Nessie's voice rose as she spoke longer. She took off her seatbelt and turned towards her aunts before continuing. "He did not want to leave me. We had wonderful plans for our lives. We were gonna explore the world together and have lots of puppies," she smiled a small smile at the thought of little Jacobs and little Nessies running around. She continued, "and just be together." Nessie began to sob for her poor Jacob. Her heart broke when she thought about what she had lost in that meadow outside of La Push and Forks. Sometimes, it seemed that the pain had not ceased even a tiny bit in the last eight years.

"Honey, we aren't trying to hurt you." Rose's face softened greatly. She reached for Nessie over the console and pulled her into a comforting, motherly hug. "Baby Boo, you just got so hurt after Jake, uh, died, that your parents worry about you becoming close to others because of their mortality."

"But it's been eight years. And, yeah, it hurt a lot, but I can't just avoid guys because I might lose them. He's just a friend," Nessie pulled away from Rose and took the tissue Alice handed her.

"What are you talking about?" Alice looked at Nessie and then at Rose completely baffled. Rose's face mirrored her sister's. They both looked back at Nessie together.

"What are you talking about, Alice?" Nessie asked. "Didn't you see me in a relationship in your vision?"

"Bunny, I honestly never had a vision about you – at least not one since we got to Ipswich. And I definitely have not had any about anything regarding you and romance for a long time. Why? You're interested in someone, aren't you?" Alice grew excited at the prospect, her eyes widening.

"No, of course not," Nessie answered rapidly, her thoughts immediately turned back to Reid. She felt an overwhelming guilt at that. She had not thought of Jake at all today but about Reid Garwin. This was all wrong. Jake was the only one for her. He was her best friend, her other half, her one true love, her husband, her imprinter. And here she was thinking about some boy she had not even met eight hours ago. Nessie's eyes filled with tears again at the thought of her betrayal of Jake's memory.

"Scoot in back, Baby Boo," Rose told Nessie as she got out of the car and walked around the driver's side. Nessie did as Rose asked and climbed into the back of the car with Alice. Alice pulled Nessie close, stroking her hair gently, as the tears began to spill down Nessie's cheeks. Nessie felt utterly terrible and miserable – like she was being eaten alive by the guilt monster.

Only moments after Rose took off at a high rate of speed up the road, the Challenger pulled into the Cullen garage, and cold arms reached out for Nessie from the passenger door. They pulled her out of the car and into Jasper's comforting arms. He carried her into the house, calming her with his ability and his soft, kind Southern lilt. She clung to him for dear life, knowing he would help her through the pain she felt. Nessie then felt the black pull of unconsciousness filling her vision before she knew nothing.

* * *

Flashback

_Jasper and Nessie had not been very close when she was a child. Jasper loved her more than anything except perhaps Alice, with an almost fatherly type of devotion, and because of this love and devotion he avoided Nessie. He was terrified he would hurt her – or kill her. He doubted his ability to control his thirst around her because he could hear her blood pulse through her veins and it drove him crazy. Everyone in the family pushed him to trust himself but he refused to give in, even though he longed more than anything to create a relationship with his niece that rivaled the one she had with Emmett. Even when she had grown to maturity and she attempted to reach out to him, Jasper still pushed her away to protect her from his lack of control._

_It all came to a head in the months following Jake's death – an event that changed the Cullen family in ways they never dreamt possible and each of them felt his death equally impact their family. Jasper never thought he would feel so much pure despair and grief come from his family._

_Nessie simply missed her Jacob. She missed everything about him. She just missed his presence in her life._

_Edward missed the young man who he had watched grow from a cheerful boy to an angry and despairing teenager to a man who was deeply and utterly devoted to his Renesmee. This man had become his brother, his son, and dare he say, his friend._

_Bella missed her close friend who made her daughter brighten at the sight of him. She missed his laugh and his zeal for life. She missed the bubbling friend who never ceased to make sure those he cared for were alright – a trait picked up by her daughter._

_Carlisle missed the kind young man who was wholly devoted to his granddaughter and subsequently his family. He was the kind of man who fit perfectly into his family and filled yet another hole they had all felt for many years._

_Esme missed his joyful spirit and childlike love for life and his love for her cooking. But most of all she missed the brightness that only he could bring to their home. _

_Alice missed the challenge of finding clothes that fit him, that looked good on him, and then convincing him to wear the clothes she picked out. She had loved the challenge of dressing Jacob Black. _

_Emmett missed having someone to pull pranks with and to do guy things with other than with Jasper. He missed having someone who could actually compete with him on the Xbox and the Wii and the Playstation._

_Even Rose missed Jake. She missed not bantering with him and hearing his annoyingly stupid blonde jokes throughout her day. Most of all, Rose missed the spark in her precious niece's eyes that was only there when Jacob Black came striding through their front door._

_Jacob Black was the Cullen's big bad wolf and he had endeared himself into the hearts of each one of them whether they appreciated his larger than life personality or not. He was truly a Cullen – a very important part of the family built over the course of the last century. And a large hole was left in his absence._

* * *

Summer and Fall 2015

_Jasper had been on a roller coaster in the past few weeks. It had been about three weeks since the funeral. Everyone was so emotionally distraught at the loss of Jacob Black. He did find that he could help ease their grief and make it easier on them by focusing on the familiar happy feelings Jake had exuded on many occasions. This reminder of who Jacob Black had been proved to be therapeutic for the Cullen family. The emotional fogs that hung around each of them began to lift and each began the process of moving on with their lives. This culminated in the family moving to back to Alaska to be near their other family, the Denali coven. But one of them could not move on. Nessie was broken from the inside out and no one could break through the wall she had formed to protect herself. No one._

_Nessie fought him tooth and nail to prevent him from using his gift on her. At first she desperately wanted to feel the pain and loss of her heart. She wanted to be miserable in every way she could be. She wanted to cry her heart out until her tear ducts could shed no more tears. As time went on though, her emotions numbed and she realized all she wanted was to join Jake in death. She believed the only way she could ever escape her loss was to find her loss again. _

_Jasper ached to help her deal with the intense emotions she felt but she avoided him. In their lives, their relationship had always involved him going out of his way to avoid her – not the other way around. _

_On the rare occasion that he was around her, Jasper could feel her intense longing to be with Jake, but beyond this, he felt nothing from her. It was almost as though Nessie had ceased to exist without Jacob and she had blocked out her emotions altogether. The rest of the family recognized this as well but not to the extent Jasper did._

* * *

January 2016

_One cool wintery afternoon, Jasper decided he would not give Nessie a choice. He had to help pull her out of her shell. If she did not, the family jointly decided that she would try to find a way to commit suicide and they could not allow her to leave them, too. It would be too devastating to lose both Jake and Nessie in such a short period of time. And as much as they had loved Jake, losing Nessie would be ten times worse than losing Jake had been. _

_So, after several previous attempts, Jasper again attempted to talk to Nessie. She was sitting in the sitting room in the cottage which was about a mile away from the main Cullen house. Nessie just sat in the chair and stared blankly at the wall like the empty shell she had become. _

_She thought about nothing in particular except perhaps her misery if she could focus on that at all. What really frustrated her and hurt her was the fact that she was beginning to forget those little important things about him and her life with him that only she had ever known about. She did not remember what it was like before _he _had died. She could not remember _his _smell. She could not remember _his _warm, comforting smile. These things only added to her misery._

_Jasper could feel her empty pain. He could feel her sense of loss. He could feel the broken heart underneath it all. She tried to mask it, as she always did when she sensed his presence, when she heard his footsteps approaching the cottage._

"_Hello, Lil' Bunny," Jasper greeted her with the nickname he had given her as a child once he had joined her inside the warm cottage. That was one of the only things he had allowed himself to splurge on when she was a child. If he would not allow himself to be close to her, he could at least give her something that was unique to him alone. It had given him a great deal of pleasure when her face had brightened when he called her that the first time._

_Nessie ignored her uncle as he sat down on the chair next to the couch she sat on. She continued on with her staring contest with the wall. _

"_Nessie, I think you need to talk about this. You need to know that we all love you a great deal, and we know you are hurting so badly," Jasper told her kindly. "I know that this is difficult for you. It is very hard to lose someone you care about, and …"_

"_Care about? CARE ABOUT? You think I cared about _him_?" Nessie flew off the couch and knelt in front of Jasper, getting in his face. "I LOVED him more than anything in my life. He was my best friend. He was my other half. He was my husband. I lost not only my husband but our potential children and myself – I don't exist without Jacob Black. He and I were one. And don't you even dare try to tell me that you know what I'm going through," she spat venomously at her uncle._

_Jasper leaned back in his chair watching her, surprised at her outburst. He could feel the anger pouring off of her in a flood. Not exactly what he had hoped to get from her first but it would do. It was better than no expressive emotion from her like he had seen for the last six months._

"_I did not say that I understand how you feel. I have not lost my significant other and I understand that it is different. But I can feel how you feel. Let me help you sort through your feelings and your pain," Jasper requested in his calm and collected voice._

"_Why? You've never cared about me before. I don't want any help from you. I don't care if how I feel bothers you. You never cared about me so why should I care about you?" she told him harshly, pulling herself back to her seat in a huff._

"_You think I never cared about you?" Jasper's eyes flared with anger. He knew this anger was not his own but it was pulled to the surface because of the sensitivity he felt toward the relationship he had with his niece. He immediately calmed himself down with a deep unneeded breath. His face softened at his niece. "Bunny, Bunny, Bunny… I care for you more than you can imagine." Jasper watched his niece. He got up from the chair and settled next to Nessie on the couch. _

"_You do?" She looked at him skeptically with a sarcastic, hurtful tone in her voice. "You sure had a strange way of showing it," she sneered at him. "You avoided me. You hated me!"_

"_What? I have never hated you, Bunny. I have only ever loved you," he told her, the honesty showing through his facial expression._

"_Then why did you always stay so far away from me?" she asked. Tears began to form in her eyes. She was suffering from the loss of Jake so some of her pain stemmed from her grief, but Jasper realized in that moment that what he had done in the name of protecting her was in fact purely selfish. And now she was having to deal with the pain from their lack of a relationship, too. Jasper felt an overwhelming sadness permeate his senses through his gift. He then felt her sadness permeate through the gentle touch of her hand on his face. _

_Nessie showed him her childhood from her perspective. Specifically, she showed him the many times she sat back and watched her uncle Jasper. Throughout each memory, he felt her desire to go to him but her fear that he did not like her or love her. She felt her belief that he only tolerated her presence and put up with her begrudgingly. And so she stayed away from him in fear of his rejection of her. She dropped her hand and folded her hands in her lap and looked down at them, avoiding eye contact with her uncle. Jasper could feel her fear of his rejection plainly join her sadness at the surface of her emotions._

"_Oh, oh, oh! My Lil' Bunny. What have I done?" he looked at her softly and lovingly before pulling his niece into his arms. He felt the familiar burn at the back of his throat as the blood pumping through her veins grew closer to him. It would be so easy … Jasper pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the precious face accompanying the young woman in his arms. "Bunny, I have always loved you so much. And I'm so sorry that we were never close when you were little. I kept away from you because I did not trust myself to not hurt you. I thought that it was better that way. It was not because I only tolerated you. I feel awful for that, Bunny. Now, I realize all it did was hurt you. I wasn't protecting you at all; only hurting you. I never ever wanted that."_

"_Really?" she looked up at his face with the same innocent child-like look she had as a little girl. _

"_Yes, my Lil' Bunny. I wanted so badly to be as great an uncle as Emmett and for you to brag on me like you did the wolves and Emmett and your father and everyone you loved. I felt that you were safer away from me," he explained. He looked down at her softly and daringly pressed a soft kiss to her temple, testing the burn in his throat. "I'm sorry, my little Nessie. I never wanted to hurt you. I love you so much, my Bunny girl."_

"_Thank you, Uncle Jazz. I love you, too," she snuggled into her uncle's arms knowing beyond a doubt that she was safe and loved finally by the uncle she had always wanted so desperately to know._

_The two sat together for quite awhile before Nessie pulled away, and when she did, Nessie felt a great deal better. She knew Jasper had used his gift to calm her, and she appreciated feeling calmed and not like a black hole had engulfed her soul sucking her dry of everything. And her dear uncle Jasper did indeed love her as much as every other member of the Cullen family. It comforted her heart to know that the tough hardened soldier had a soft spot for her just like he did for all his family members._

End Flashback_  
_

* * *

Present

"Nessie, honey, how are ya doin'?" came a voice. The voice sounded distant but was getting closer. She knew that she was in that state between unconsciousness and a wakeful state. As she came to grips with reality, she realized it was Jasper who was talking to her. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. Above her was the gauzy canopy of her bed. She blinked sleepily a few times before glancing over at Jasper. He was sitting next to her bed watching her quietly, waiting for her to answer him.

"I'm okay." Nessie's voice was somewhat raspy. "What happened? I remember being in the car and then you pulled me out and then it all blacks out," she explained looking over at him. Her uncle gently reached over to move a chunk of her bangs out of her face.

"Well, you passed out shortly after I pulled you out of the Challenger. I was only able to feel your emotions momentarily before you passed out. And then it went blank." Jasper stared at his niece, continuing to use his empathic gift to comfort her and help her to relax. If she relaxed, he hoped she may be able to talk through how she felt. This was the technique the family had used after she had finally opened up to Jasper after Jake's death.

"Thanks, Jazz," she told him quietly, knowing her uncle was creating her relaxed state but she nevertheless appreciated the unnaturalness of it. In many ways, Jasper's abilities had proven to be an escape from her struggling when it became too overwhelming for her to handle.

"You're welcome." Jasper sat silently next to her before asking her how she was doing. "Now, I want some honesty, Bunny. We need to know what's going on with you so you don't pull another stunt like that in the garage," he told her referring to her blacking out episode in the garage. Jasper let up on his ability somewhat. Nessie began to feel the slightest hint of her guilt from earlier.

"I just… There was… There was this guy that I met today. You know the blond from this morning. He was in most of my classes. And, uh, I dunno. We just kind of hung out, and we got along pretty well. And I, uh, kinda like him," she finished quietly. Her voice picked up again with a nervous edge to it this time, "It's so soon, and he's human, and he's a player, andddd…" Nessie's voice shook with emotion and pain as her voice wandered off into nothingness.

"So, this is what you were struggling with when you talked with Alice and Rose," Bella commented as she joined her brother and daughter. Edward was close on her heels. Nessie figured they must have been standing just outside her bedroom door waiting for her to awake and talk to Jasper. Bella gracefully walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down as Edward strode purposely around to the other side. He followed his wife's lead. Jasper nodded at the couple and headed back downstairs to join the rest of the family knowing they needed to talk privately.

"Jazz, can you keep doing this?" Nessie asked about his gift.

"Of course, Bunny," he answered before pulling the door closed behind him.

"Angel, it's alright to have these feelings for another," Edward stated.

"But Daddy, I can't. Jake was the only one for me. He is the only one for me. And what do I do, I go to high school and I immediately find another boy attractive."

"Baby, it's alright for you to move on. It has been eight years. That is plenty of time for you to mourn," Bella told Nessie quietly. It was difficult for her to see her daughter with anyone other than her imprinter, but Bella knew that Nessie needed to move on. Jake would have wanted that.

"But…"

"And I know for a fact that Jake would have wanted you to be happy. He told me this. If you could survive the pull of the imprint, he wanted you to move on and be happy again. His only concern was you surviving the imprint, but Jake thought you might survive it because of your vampire background. He loved you more than life and only ever wanted you to be happy."

"But I feel like I'm betraying him."

"I know. But he wanted you to be happy. He wanted you to find love again," Bella told Nessie. "You have to believe that."

"Momma, he died for me, though. Jake died protecting me. I could have saved him. If I had just known Jane had bit him, I could have pulled the venom out. If…"

"Little Angel, you have to let that go. Jake made a choice to protect you. He wanted to protect you," Edward explained. "Angel, you could not have saved him. He had already been bitten by at least one other vampire prior to Jane's bite in that last fight. He had multiple bites. You could not have saved him," Edward informed Nessie. He looked at her sorrowfully.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Nessie screeched at her parents, shock written all over her face.

"Baby, you had so much to deal with. I mean it was hard that you lost your imprinter, but Renesmee, it was your wedding day. That only made your pain that much more difficult to get through. We were only trying to protect you." Bella stopped for a second to gather her thoughts before continuing, "We should have told you. It just never came up, and we chose not bring it up. We did not want to bring you more pain after you had finally been able to push it away somewhat. We're sorry."

"I know. I know," she answered quietly. "I've just always thought it was my fault. I've always thought I could have saved him if I had tried harder."

"I know, Angel. It is just that you never thought about it so I thought you had moved passed it. And like your mother said, I did not want to bring it or your pain up again. I just wanted you to be okay and that was the only way I knew how." Edward pulled Nessie into his cool arms and lap, cradling her protectively like she was a little girl once again. "I may be over a century old, Ness, but this is the first time I've been a father, and it's same for your mother. We've never been parents and we are bound to make mistakes. I sincerely regret that this mistake has hurt you so badly or cause you so much guilt and pain."

Nessie tugged on the front of her father's sweater. She pulled him closer as sobs began to wrack her body. As Bella watched her husband and daughter, she realized that Nessie had not truly dealt with her grief. Nessie had dealt with it enough to get by day-to-day, but deep down, the grief was still present. And it was going to come out now, Bella was sure of this.

* * *

Well, there it is – Chapter 3. That was hard to write – a lot of tears and emotions felt throughout the writing of this chapter. And sorry it took longer – I wanted to get it just right. I needed to make sure to convey everyone's feelings and emotions properly to give it the right feel.

And I felt the need to elaborate on the relationship between Jasper and Nessie. I have always figured these two would be close at a deeper, less playful level than Emmett and Nessie – which hopefully we'll see more in the future. And Jasper would be a perfect therapist for Nessie as she struggled through her pain. Hope you all enjoyed it…

And once again, please, please review – it only takes two seconds – positive or negative! I would love to hear your thoughts about my work and the story! : )


	4. Looking Up

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the Covenant. I just borrow their characters and ideas and have a little fun with it for my own enjoyment – hopefully your's, too. Hahaha! ; )

Well, I finally finished this chapter. It's been in the works for months now, and it finally came to me. Enjoy! Oh, and be sure to note a specific detail Nessie notices later in the chapter.

* * *

LOOKING UP

* * *

The following day, Nessie awoke refreshed and relaxed, a first for her in years. It helped to talk to her parents, and her guilt at not saving Jake had lessened significantly. When her parents had told her about Jake having already been bit multiple times before he killed Jane, Nessie felt a great deal better. She was just glad to know that she would not have been able to do anything to save Jake and that she had done everything she could have to help him. Although, she thought it was kind of selfish to be glad but it had helped her to sleep better. And she knew Jake would have been okay with that.

She pulled herself out of bed and quickly got ready to face the day. A part of her felt relief at having let someone else know how she was feeling. Her heart did not feel nearly as heavy today as it had for so many years, and it made it easier to be truly happy rather than simply act happy.

Nessie flounced down the stairs with a bounce in her step, showing off her emotions. She hated that she wore her heart on her sleeve, but at the moment she could care less. She was happy, life was good, and the world was continuing to spin. Nessie was never sure how long it would last so she figured she might as well enjoy it while she had it.

She grabbed the bite to eat her grandmother offered and headed out the door to the garage with the rest of the family. They all piled into the two cars they would take to school today to begin another day at Spencer Academy.

* * *

"Good morning," she greeted Reid cheerfully as she joined him at their table in their drawing class.

"Hey," he answered curtly.

"So… um, how are you?"

"Fine."

"Okay, then." Nessie glanced over at Reid, trying to Reid him. He looked irritated with something. She watched him for a moment before asking cautiously, "You okay?"

At that moment, the teacher began class. Nessie glanced over at Reid once more before settling her attention on Miss Lakey.

Once class had settled in, Nessie glanced over at Reid again before quickly scribbling on her sketch pad. _You okay? _She pushed it gently toward Reid while keeping her eyes focused on Miss Lakey. She quickly glanced back to Reid again to see if he noticed it. He acted like he did not see it so Nessie pushed it a little closer to him. Again, nothing, so Nessie brought her arms down off the table and nudged him in the arm. Once he looked over at her, Nessie raised her eyebrows and then glanced at the paper. Reid shrugged lightly before leaning on his elbows on the table and focusing on the teacher again. Nessie leaned back in her chair and looked at the back of his blond head. What was going on with this boy?

* * *

Nessie tried to talk to Reid once more before Biology, but he blew her off. After that Nessie flat out ignored him. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but what was up with him? She pushed the issue to the back of her mind as she finished Biology and went to Latin. To make sure Reid knew what her point was, Nessie left Biology without a word or a glance to him before moving to her next class.

She had completely forgotten Reid's odd behavior by the time she met up with Tyler and Reid. She greeted Tyler warmly and gave Reid a curt nod. She caught Tyler giving Reid a questioning look as Nessie turned to go up to her seat. She settled in and pulled her book out. Tyler and Reid settled in next to her and promptly began daydreaming as soon as Mr. Hoffman began class.

After a bit, Nessie noticed Reid lean over and rest his head on the desk. After a few minutes, she heard light snoring coming from the blond next to her. When the instructor called on Tyler to read the first amendment of the US Constitution, Reid promptly sat up, blinking his eyes to wake himself up. Nessie looked over at him, and laughed quietly at his sleepiness. It served him right to get caught. He glanced over at her before leaning back as he began opening his book. He lifted his chin up to indicate to Nessie that he needed to know what page they were on.

She rolled her eyes at this and debated ignoring him. She was miffed at him for ignoring her all morning. She had not done anything to deserve this sort of behavior, especially from someone who she thought she was getting along so well with. Reid's facial features changed slightly to plead with Nessie. Nessie rolled her eyes again pointedly with a wrinkle of her nose. She lifted her book up slightly to show him the page. Reid glanced down momentarily at the page number and he nodded almost imperceptibly that he had the information he needed. Nessie shook her head while she rolled her eyes again and switched her attention back to the instructor.

She finished the rest of class focused entirely on Mr. Hoffman, resuming Operation Ignore Reid. He was acting like a complete moron, and she was fed up. What was his problem? Well, until he would talk to her, she would just flat ignore him. And even when he did, she might still ignore him just for the sake of it.

* * *

After class was over, Nessie stood up, not even so much as looking at Tyler and Reid. She swiftly descended the stairs between all of the desk and down to the center of the room and the room's exit into the overflowing hallway. She joined the throngs of people and attempted to gently maneuver through the crowd in a human like manner. Nessie was finding it interesting how easy it was to be human at some times and how difficult it was at other times. Especially now with her first opportunity to be in such a human filled environment such as high school, or in this case, prep school.

She slowly made her way to her locker. When she finally managed to arrive there, looking somewhat worse for the wear. The smell of all of the humans was beginning to get to her – perhaps it was time to go on her monthly hunting trip. She would be sure to speak with her parents when she met up with them in the commuters' parking lot in a few minutes. Nessie deftly moved the lock on the locker around to open it up. She immediately began collecting the books she would need to study tonight for all of her homework.

"Hey!" Nessie heard one voice call out amongst the many voices around her. "Hey!" the same voice called again. "Nessie!" the voice hollered, gaining a slightly irritated edge to it as it came closer.

Her copper curls swung around as she turned to see the one person she did not want to even deal with today. She promptly turned back to her locker, Operation Ignore Reid was still in effect. And Nessie saw no end to it in the near future.

"Nessie!" Reid was finally at Nessie's locker, leaning in the adjoining locker to the right. She focused on taking her Art book out and placing it firmly into her back pack.

"Hey." Reid waved his hand in front of her face. "Earth to Sunshine…"

At this Nessie snapped. This plan was not going to work. "Go away Reid," she hissed through her teeth.

Reid shook his head defiantly and smiled cockily at her. "Now why would I wanna do that?"

Nessie took a deep breath before turning to Reid. "Because you've ignored me all day and now all of a sudden, you're better and ready to acknowledge my presence. Well, I'm sorry, but I don't really feel like being a doormat that you choose to acknowledge whenever you feel like it. No thank you."

"I'm sorry about today. I've just had some crap to deal with and it's kind of dragging me down. I didn't mean to take it out on you." Reid grimaced and gave her a tiny smile.

Nessie sighed deeply, looking back into her locker as though looking for some kind of hidden secret between the textbooks residing within. "Reid… I just… I just… What am I supposed to do with you? You're like a walking roller coaster. Yesterday, you wouldn't leave me alone, and today, you flat out ignore me until you decide that you're good." She paused for a moment and turned to look at him. "Life doesn't work that way."

"Like I said, I'm sorry. I told you yesterday that I don't do this kind of thing expect with my boys. So, I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I will learn my lesson today and take it fully to heart. And this won't be a problem in the future. That is, if you'll let there be a future for our, uh, friendship?"

Nessie's eyes shifted to her locker door and then back to meet Reid's icy eyes. A half smile blossomed onto her face before she said slowly, "Alright. Those puppy eyes you're giving me are killer. I'm beginning to think that's how you get you way all the time, Mister." She poked his chest gently, only use minimal strength to make it more human like.

Her effort was not enough. "Yeah, and you poke people to death. Good grief, woman. You could literally kill me with a poke." He chuckled and turned away. Nessie on the other hand, turned back to her locker, mortified. This was not good. She would have to be even more careful. Nessie could not have the humans recognizing her for anything more than her brains. And even that was relatively risky.

"So, swim practice today?" pulled Nessie from her worries about exposing her family.

"My family is waiting for me. Sorry, Reid."

"Are you sure? I mean I could take ya home after we're done and everything," he waggled his eyebrows simultaneously.

"I dunno…"

"Please?" he pleaded with a long, pathetic face.

"Alright, fine. I'll come. But let me call my da-brother, and let him know what's happening." _Wow – that was a close one_._ Gotta be more careful with keeping all the roles straight_.

"Sweet!" Reid jumped up, and fist pumped the air in triumph. "Sorry, I like showing off in the pool." He winked at her while he waited for her to finish dialing her phone. Nessie rolled her eyes before listening as Edward answered his phone.

"Hi Eddie. I'm gonna be late tonight. You guys just head on home. I'm going to catch a ride home."

He groaned at the nickname before stating her name warningly when she finished her speaking. "Renesmee…" Nessie turned her phone down quickly so that Reid would not hear anything in their conversation. Edward groaned. "Angel, Reid Garwin is not the type of boy you should be hanging out with." Her father was obviously close enough to still 'hear' her mind and of course Reid's.

"But…" she answered sharply.

"No. Be out in the car in five minutes, young lady." A scuffle was then heard in the background with a sharp "Edward" followed by a masculine "But love…". Nessie almost broke out laughing as she listened to her parents fight over the fragile phone. She would certainly hate to be her father's phone right about now.

"Sweetheart, have fun. Just be home by dinner, please. We love you. And I'll handle your father," Bella told Nessie with a smile in her voice. Nessie always loved that her mother could always make you feel loved no matter whether it was over the phone or in person.

"Thanks. I'll be home by dinner. Love you!" Nessie hung up her phone and stuck it in her back pocket. She then grabbed her book bag and shut her locker door tightly.

"What was that about?" Reid asked as Nessie turned to walk in the direction he was leading her.

"Oh nothing. My brother is just a little over protective."

"A little? I'd say a lot, Sunshine. The boy would hardly let me walk with you yesterday."

"Yeah. He's always been that way. Especially since our parents died. He's always felt that he is responsible for me. But Bella tends to help keep him from getting as crazy as he used to be when the Cullens first adopted us," Nessie explained , proud of how at ease that explanation felt compared to all of the others she had done in the last 24 hours. _Maybe this whole lying thing to protect our secret would work better than I thought._

"Oh. I'm sorry about all that, by the way. I can't imagine having lost your family and all that. I've always had mine, plus all the other old families around here, particularly Caleb and Pogue and Tyler."

"Yeah. But it's alright. I was fortunate enough to be taken in by the Cullens so it all worked out well in the end. And I think, my parents would have been very proud of my brother and I."

"I dunno about him," Reid retorted before sobering up, "but you, they would have been be proud of." He ended the conversation with that and they continued down the hall in silence.

When they got the pool area, Reid squeezed Nessie's hand lightly before pushing her towards the entrance to the stands. He grinned at her before turning towards a hallway that Nessie assumed led to the locker room.

She sat down with her book bag and looked around. There was an older man, probably the coach, and a few students running around with towels and things. Nessie then glanced around the stands. There were a few people, mostly girls hanging around, undoubtedly to 'watch' the boys' swim team practice.

After a few moments of observing those around her, Nessie noticed some of the swim team beginning to stream out of the locker room. As they came out, they began warming up and getting ready to begin practice. Nessie kept her keen eyes open for Reid and his friends.

Finally, she saw some familiar faces. The four boys came out of the locker room and stood by their coach. Reid looked up towards the stands, looking for Nessie. He grinned and winked when he saw her. She smiled in response and gave a nod of her head – there were days when she felt as old fashioned as her dad was old. Reid rolled his eyes and turned back towards his coach who began giving instruction to the team.

Nessie smiled again and hear phone vibrate in her book bag. She turned towards her bag and saw several of the other girls giving her the sink eye. Nessie was taken aback. _What was their problem?_ She and Reid were _only_ friends. She quickly moved her eyes down to her bag and focused on her phone. The screen said that Eddie was calling. Nessie shoved her phone roughly back in her bag. _Just ignore Daddy. Don't give him the time of day. _

Her phone vibrated again but this time only once. A text message was probably a safe bet. She pulled the phone back out again and read the message. "Honey, just ignore your dad. I've confiscated his phone so you should be good until you get home. The only thing I ask is that you be careful. We love you!"_ Poor Momma – I'll have to thank her later for helping me. _Nessie quickly responded with "Always am. Love you, too, and thanks!" before smiling fondly and putting her phone back into her bag.

She focused on what was going on at the edge of the pool now. Caleb was preparing to race a couple of the other guys in their class. One of them was in her American Government class, Nessie noted, and he was in the lane right next to Caleb's. Pogue, Tyler, and Reid stood by the edge of the pool rooting for their friend.

The gun went off and the competitors flew into the pool. From Nessie's viewpoint, it was downright beautiful. She loved how the water moved around them and the seemed to cut through the water like a knife through butter when they first went in.

Then the splashing began as they cut through the water with their extremities towards the other end of the pool. The boy from her government class was neck and neck with Caleb. Her eyes widened as she tried to will Caleb to the win. The two turned around at the wall and shot off towards the finish. They stayed neck and neck. Nessie, even with her sharp vampire-like eyes, could not tell who was ahead of the other. Just as they were about the wall, Nessie did catch something that she was sure none of the others there did. The boy from her government class brought his head up to breathe, and as he did, his eyes flashed black. Nessie gasped as a sudden burst of speed flooded through him, allowing him to beat Caleb. She looked over to Caleb's lane just in time to see him hit his head on the wall of the pool.

She gasped again and stood. She was at the edge of the bars in the stands before she knew what was going on. Pogue was immediately in the pool helping the government class boy get Caleb out of the pool. Reid and Tyler helped to pull him out and lay him on the tile floor. The two of them, Pogue, and the boy from her government class gathered around Caleb and waited for him to wake up. _He must have hit his head pretty hard to be out so hard like that_, Nessie reasoned.

The coach and the rest of the team finally realized what had happened were standing around Caleb as well so Nessie was unable to see him or his friends. After a few minutes, the group began to disperse and Reid and the boys were no longer by the pool. The government class boy was also gone. The coach must have sent them to the locker room.

Nessie sat there for a minute before deciding to head out the hall. Perhaps, they were all leaving early. She would wait for them there. Nessie gathered her things and head out the hall. She leaned with her back against the wall and slid down to a seated position.

"Hey," Tyler greeted Nessie as he came walking down the hall followed by Reid and the other two guys.

"What happened?"

"Ah, nothing. Caleb just can't see what's right in front of his nose," Reid teased. Caleb rolled his eyes and Pogue smacked Caleb on the shoulder.

"You guys can go back in," Caleb offered.

"And who'd make sure you get home alright?" Pogue asked pushing Caleb toward the exit of the school.

"Besides Coach gave us a free pass so let's take it and hit the road," Tyler added with a body movement forward to follow them and exaggerate his statement.

Reid hung back and stuck his hand out to help Nessie get up off the floor. She took his outstretched hand and the together they got her to her feet. Nessie turned to grab her bag.

"I got it," Reid told her. He picked it up lithely, slinging it over his shoulder and turned back to his companion. "You ready to go?"

"Sure."

The two walked behind the other guys and headed out to the lot. "Reid, take care of my baby," Tyler told his best friend as he tossed Reid the keys to his Hummer.

Reid rolled his eyes before offering a quick nod but begrudging nod of thanks. Tyler, Caleb, and Pogue made their way over to Caleb's Mustang and Pogue's Ducati. Reid led Nessie in the opposite direction to the school resident parking. They headed over to a Hummer whose lights flashed as Reid hit the key fab button. They got into their sides of the car before resuming conversation once more.

"This is Tyler's?"

"Yeah. My parents won't let me have my own car."

Nessie chuckled and received a dirty look from Reid. "What?" he asked sharply.

"Nothing. It's just that it doesn't surprise me that much," she stopped before adding as his look darkened, "It isn't a bad thing, ya know. You don't have to worry about insurance or anything like that."

"True, I guess." He gave her a sideways look as he put the keys in the ignition and turned the car on. "You're just a bit of a prima donna, aren't you, Miss Masen? Not a problem for you."

"Yeah. Something like that," she laughed. "But you're right. Daddy does take good care of me."

"The Challenge I saw you guys in yesterday, was that yours?"

"Yup. It's my dream car. I've wanted it for like forever."

"That's awesome. One of these days, I'll convince my parents not to worry, and they might get me something to drive."

"Just responsibility and perhaps a little bit of kissing up might do the trick."

"Bringing home a pretty girl who's sweet as sugar might help crack my old man." Reid's eyebrows waggled up and down suggestively.

"Oooo, you're funny. But not happening," she answered firmly.

"Sure, sure," he answered sarcastically. "We'll see about that."

Nessie's face immediately dropped at hearing the familiar words, just with the wrong voice. "You okay?"

"Um, yeah, I'm great. Just…"

"Did I say something?"

"Kind of." Reid gave her a questioning expression. "Jake said that all the time – sure, sure – it was kind of his trademark."

"Who is this Jake guy if you don't mind my asking? He must be important to you."

"Yeah – he was." Nessie sighed feeling the intense feelings of loss wriggling their way into her soul. "He was my best friend."

"Your best friend, huh? What happened?"

"He was killed a few years back in an, uh, accident," Nessie murmured quietly. "They say the passage of time heals all wounds, but I don't know about this one."

"I'd say you're doing pretty good. I mean you've got a great family supporting you, whether you're related to 'em or not. And losing someone that important to you is really, really hard. So no worries, deal?" The girl in the passenger seat nodded her head, her curls swishing about lightly. "And if you ever want to talk or need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." His face was brutally honest and sincere. Nessie could trust him, she was sure.

The two sat in comfortable silence until they reached the large structure Nessie called home. "You live here?" Reid asked unbelievably.

"Yup. My mother had the house built for us before we moved here," she explained quietly.

"I remember when they were beginning. My dad, he works in real estate, heard about this property getting a contract. Later, he heard about all the construction and we were all real curious to see what happened with it. I'd say it turned out pretty well."

"It sure did. Na-Mom loves to work in architecture and interior design, and she excels in it," Nessie bragged on her grandmother proudly. At that moment, said woman came out onto the front porch.

"Hi Mom," Nessie called to Esme as she got out of the car. Reid followed her lead.

"Hi Sweetheart. Who's your friend?"

"This is Reid Garwin. We go to school together at Spencer. Reid, this is my mother, Esme Cullen."

"Nice to meet you. You have a beautiful home," Reid greeted her and held out his hand. She took it lightly and quickly to hopefully avoid any prolonged skin to skin contact.

"I stayed at school a little late to hang out with the guys at swim practice. I hope that was alright…" Nessie commented.

"Of course, dear. That is absolutely fine with me," Esme told her, with a hint of smugness, probably directed at her oldest son. She turned back to Reid and asked, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Thank you Mrs. Cullen, but I should be going. My parents will be wondering where I am. It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Cullen," he answered politely. _Just a little suave_, Nessie noted.

"Nice meeting you, too, Reid. Have a safe drive home." Esme returned the gesture before walking back inside. Nessie heard the slightest of movement just inside the door. Her family would surely bombard her with questions as soon as she stepped through the door.

"Thanks for inviting me, Reid. I enjoyed it, but I hope Caleb will be alright."

"He'll be fine. The boy's tougher than nails. He'll be good. I just wish you coulda seen a real practice. With ya know, me in the pool rather than running around it."

"Yeah. Maybe next time."

"Ooo. Brownie points – I get a next time."

"Oh don't get too excited, yet, Reid Garwin. You've gotta prove yourself with me first."

"Understood, Sunshine. And I'll work my butt off to earn it." He grinned from ear to ear before walking around the Hummer and getting in. Reid rolled down the passenger window. "I'll see you tomorrow, and I promise to be in a better mood tomorrow morning."

"Okie doke. See ya!" Nessie responded before Reid put the car in gear and took off. She sighed lightly and looked up at the over cast sky. _Perhaps things are looking up_.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed that. Please your thoughts, feelings, or anything else in a pretty little review for me. I love 'em. They are the bread and butter of my fanfiction life! XD


	5. Boys, Boys, Boys

Sorry this is so late in going up. Hope what few readers out there enjoy this!

* * *

BOYS, BOYS, BOYS

* * *

As soon as Nessie stepped through the front door, she was, as expected, bombarded by questions. She glanced around, not listening to the questions because of the sheer number of questions and the speed at which they hit her. Neither of her parents were in the foyer. Bella must have been trying to ease Edward's discomfort at the thoughts involved with his daughter and her friend.

She began making a time out motion like they did in football. No one paid her any attention and so she began hollering, "Time out!" Still no one listened to her in their excitement. Finally, the teenager began jumping up and down which got her grandfather's attention.

Carlisle whistled loudly at his family members. "Nessie would like to say something," he explained as they all looked to him for an explanation for his interruption. As a unit, they all turned to Nessie who blushed profusely under their intense, questioning gaze.

"Ummm. I just wanted to say that I had a good day, and I am going up to my room." She flashed them a quick smile with wide eyes and dashed up the stairs to her hiding place. Nessie glimpsed her parents in the backyard from the window in the landing of the stairwell on the second floor. She smiled at her father's pacing and his muted hollering. She couldn't quite make out what her father was saying but Edward was peeved beyond belief, Nessie could tell.

She continued her way up to her bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut firmly behind her. She could still hear her father's voice but it was muffled even further with the soundproofing on the outside walls plus the soundproofing around her bedroom. Nessie tossed her loaded back pack on the bed and pulled out the hair tie, shaking the curls free. She quickly changed into more comfortable clothing. She pulled on a pair of old jeans and a comfy but nice fitting tank top as well as a too big, ratty, plaid, long sleeve button up shirt that was adorned with several permanent grease stains and a few holes from Jake welding in the garage. It had long lost the smell of its previous owner, but it comforted Nessie simply because it had been Jake's at one time.

Nessie returned to her back pack on her bed and emptied its contents onto her quilt. She sifted through her notebooks and organizing and prioritizing her homework in her plum planner. Nessie pulled out the pen from her backpack and began to work on an outline for her history paper due the following week. As she worked, she thought about how she appreciated the more rigorous and intense schedule already being lined up for her schooling. Perhaps, she would be challenged at Spencer.

After only a few minutes of work, however, a knock came from the door. "Blast!" Nessie muttered under her breath. "I wish I could hear them coming but they have to be so quiet." She then raised her voice and invited them in even though she knew whichever of her family as outside the door would have heard her previous whispers.

"Hi," came the greeting and in peeked Alice with Rose right behind her. "We were just wondering if you were planning to unpack and decorate," Alice commented. Rose stood behind her tiny sister watching Nessie with a soft gaze. Alice, on the other hand, looked as though she were about to burst a gasket, her eyes twinkling with excitement and hope.

Nessie sighed. She knew she should do her homework first, a value her father had desperately tried to instill in her while trying to fight Jake's ever present tendency to encourage procrastination with homework. Nessie looked around her room at the mess, knowing it would bother her. When she had come into her room, she had purposely focused on changing and getting to work so she wouldn't go crazy with the clutter.

"Sure. You guys wanna help?" Nessie asked brightly.

"As long as we get to hear about this boy," Rose bargained, with a twinkle in her eye. Alice winked and Nessie chuckled.

"Alright." She giggled and the three began working together to set up the bedroom.

* * *

Meanwhile, Edward continued ranting outside. Now, though, the rest of the family, minus Alice and Rose, had joined them in back yard.

"Bella, you did not HEAR what THAT boy was thinking about OUR daughter!" Edward yelled.

"Edward," she began again, still calm, "I don't have to hear him to have a pretty good idea what he is thinking about our daughter. She is a young lady, and he is a hot-blooded American boy. You can't say that it isn't normal for him to react to Nessie. He's a hormonal teenager. I know it's not easy, but you have to let it go." Her voice was firm and steady as she addressed her husband.

Edward's pacing quickened to a fast walk at Bella's statement. Carlisle and Esme decided to join their daughter and their son in the yard to help stem the increasing problem. They left their other two sons on the porch, who watched their eldest brother in amusement. They had both always thought it was fun to experience the fun aspects of being a parent in the form of being an uncle but not having to deal with "issues" like potty training and boys and all the other stuff typically dealt with by a child and then a teenage girl. It's more fun to watch Edward suffer through the torture of boys and Nessie, Emmett thought. Jasper chuckled at Edward's irritation.

The oldest Cullen son turned to his brother and growled teeth bared. "I don't need any of that from you, too," he snarled. Bella rolled her eyes from behind her husband as she shared a look with her brothers. This simply made Emmett full-on laugh and only moments later he was sitting in the wicker chair with his head in his hands in laughter. Jasper grimaced with a pained smile as he dealt with the conflicting emotions of anger from Edward and pure hilarity from Emmett.

"That's enough, boys," Esme scolded looking from Edward then to Emmett and Jasper.

Carlisle stepped away from Esme and towards his oldest son. "Edward, it is not as though you have never dealt with this before. Nessie has had suitors before."

Edward looked to the porch to see his wife and his mother shuffling Jasper and Emmett back into the house to give him and Carlisle a level of privacy. He made a mental note to thank them later. He then focused back on Carlisle. "Yes, Carlisle, but it was different."

"How so?" the older vampire asked quietly.

"Jacob only ever had pure intentions towards Nessie. He loved her, worshipped her even."

"He was however a young man with his mate, a pull to take her and make her his. Don't make him sound as though he was perfect, Edward, because as much as I loved the boy, he was still human." Carlisle chuckled at the irony in his statement.

"Yes, but it was only meant in a loving way, Carlisle. He never ever used Renesmee for his own selfish pleasures, even physically. I don't even remember a moment when he ever put himself before her needs and wants, ever."

"But you do remember how felt towards him regarding Bella," Carlisle reminded Edward gently.

"That was different. Bella was my girlfriend, my fiancée. Nessie is my daughter. I was jealous of Jacob with Bella because of their simplicity and his ability to give her human normalcy. I am Nessie's father, and it is my duty to protect her heart and her virtue. I will NOT allow that human to hurt my daughter in any way, shape, or form," Edward stated heatedly. "She's gone through enough heart ache."

"You cannot keep that from her. You cannot keep her from emotions or from living a full life. Heart ache is sometimes a tragic but very real and normal part of life." Carlisle paused and thought carefully for a moment before continuing. "Edward, this is not about that, however. It is about you hearing and experiencing what others, in this case a young man, think and fantasize about your daughter. Perhaps, Jacob was not the best example to use. She has had other suitors than Jacob. What about Nahuel?"

"Nahuel," Edward said his name quietly with a slight hint of disgust, eyes defocusing as he remembered the South American hybrid.

* * *

Forks, WA

September 10, 2013

_He remembered the first time he had actually interacted with Nahuel. The young looking vampire had been watching Bella with Nessie at the time. Bella had mentioned something about Nessie but the other hybrid had primarily interested in the fact that Bella had survived their daughter's birth. Edward hadn't mentioned out loud that Nahuel did briefly think about Nessie being like him. Bella had enough on her plate at that point to not need to worry about yet another potential suitor for Nessie beyond Jacob._

_After the crisis with the Volturi, Nahuel, like every else, left. The Cullens lived in peace with occasional visits from some of the other covens they had grown close to during the incident. Nahuel never did come back, even when his aunt and the Amazonian coven came to Forks to see Nessie and the rest of the family. _

_Today was Nessie's last real birthday. Alice was making a big to do over the event, as though it were Nessie's Sweet Sixteen. In fact, that was what Alice was treating it as. There were presents overflowing throughout the big house when Edward and Bella headed back to the cottage to get Nessie up that morning. _

"_Morning Daddy, Momma!" Nessie called as she flounced into the kitchen. Bella stood at the stove making some pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Nessie kissed her father's cheek as she bounced by the table at which he sat and then did the same to her mother when she reached Bella at the stove._

"_Happy Birthday," they told her in unison._

"_Sleep well?" Bella asked._

"_Yes, thank you." Nessie walked over to the cupboards and began gathering her breakfast dishes._

"_Go ahead and sit down, Sweetheart. I can do that. It's your special day."_

"_You don't ever let me help, Momma," Nessie moaned with an eye roll as she sat down. "Happy Vampire Birthday."_

_Bella laughed at this and Edward smiled widely. Nessie giggled in response to her mother's beautiful bell laugh. They continued to play off one another for several minutes._

_Edward shook his head at the two before noting the pounding of feet and the glump glump of an obnoxious heartbeat. "Here comes trouble," he announced. Nessie looked up, confused. Sometimes, his daughter was not the sharpest pencil when it came to vague statements. Perhaps it was because she believed the man her father spoke of was utter perfection._

"_Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dearest Nessie! Happy Birthday to you!" The noise was completely off key causing Edward to sit wide eyed and cringing. Bella just looked at 'the dog' as though she were asking him if he had really just done that. Nessie squealed and launched herself out of her chair at the table. _

"_Oh Jacob! That was beautiful. Thank you!" She threw herself into his waiting arms and clung to his neck. Nessie kissed him passionately in thanks. Edward cleared his throat and glared at the wolf holding his daughter. _

_Jacob set Nessie back on the floor, and murmured a sorry to Edward and Bella. _

"_Want something to eat, Jake?" Bella asked as he sat down at the table._

"_Need you ask?" Nessie giggled and Bella rolled her eyes. Edward simply stared at the wolf in silence but with a happy glint in his eye._

_As soon as the food was on the table, Jacob began serving Nessie her food. "You're only doing that so you know I've got enough and you can eat like a dog," Nessie teased with a grin._

"_So you say, Miss Ness. Perhaps I'm just being a gentleman."_

"_Sure, sure." Jake grinned widely at Nessie's response and began putting food on his own plate. They began eating then, Nessie at a normal pace while Jacob inhaled his food. Some things you simply cannot change, and Jacob's eating habits seemed to be one of them._

_Edward and Bella watched the new couple eat. The older couple shared adoring looks as they enjoyed their daughter. Seven years before they had been blessed with a beautiful and completely unexpected daughter and they were determined to enjoy every second they had with her._

_All of a sudden, Jacob stopped eating. His face became deathly serious, and his eyes defocused onto a blank spot on the table. "I hear it, too," Edward answered Jacob's thoughts._

_Both men got up and left the table. They walked out onto the front porch and into the yard. Bella, followed by Nessie, followed them as far as the porch._

"_What is it, love?" Bella asked of her husband._

"_We have company," he answered simply and Bella nodded. _

"_Oh," came from Nessie who then smiled. "I wonder who it is?"_

"_Someone quite unexpected," Edward answered peering around a tree with Jacob as the other person came into view. The vampires and Jacob recognized him instantly but Nessie's vision was not good enough to tell who it was as quickly._

"_Hello? Who is it?" she asked once more, trying to get an answer out of any of them._

"_I'd say unwanted company," Jacob growled. At this, Nessie shrunk back behind her mother. Nessie had learned growing up that it was wise to heed Jacob's concern. Sometimes, he could be a bit irrational but so could Edward._

"_Agreed," Edward responded with an almost invisible snarl._

"_Would you two try to be friendlier? You don't know his true intentions," Bella stated while she walked up behind them and touched Edward's arm to emphasize her point._

_Nessie stood on the porch tapping her foot in frustration. Then she saw who it was. She hadn't seen his face in years, since she was a tiny girl in fact._

"_Nahuel," she breathed and flew off the porch to greet him. "How are you?"_

"_I am well, Renesmee. It is so good to see you again. You've grown into a beautiful young woman just as I always believed you would," he told her in his thick accent. He hugged her tightly to him and she smiled._

_Bella moved in front of Edward and Jacob. If looks could kill, Edward would have probably killed the male hybrid many times in the few seconds he hugged Nessie. Jacob was trembling in anger, his eyes black in complete fury. _

She is so beautiful. I never believed she would be this beautiful, though. She is a goddess. Would she consider me for her mate? _Edward tried to block out Nahuel's thought as they became even more about her physicality. He felt he needed to scream when he began thinking of Nessie intimately. _

"_Maybe you should interrupt?" Jacob suggested through gritted teeth._

_Bella shot the two behind her a look that dared them to do so. She didn't like the interaction between Nessie and Nahuel but she tried to give Nessie more freedom to make her own choices. Jacob and Edward, however, had different plans._

"_Yes, Jacob. That is a wise idea." Edward stepped forward towards the pair. "What are your intentions, Nahuel?"_

"_I would like to court your daughter if I may. Do I have your blessing, Mr. Cullen?" Nahuel asked slinging his arm around Nessie and bringing her into his side._

"_Only if my daughter consents," Edward told him through narrowed eyes. His posture was rigid and threatening. _

WHAT? HOW COULD YOU EVEN DO THAT? _Jacob yelled before adding in a devastated mental tone, _You know I make her happy._ He glared at Edward accusingly and then his face dropped into a sulk._

_Edward threw a sympathetic look back to Jacob. He mouthed, "I know, but it's up to her. Trust her, Jacob." The huge Quileute looked down at the ground dejectedly once more._

_Nahuel looked down at Nessie expectantly. Edward almost chuckled at the overconfidence in the hybrid. Nessie was completely shocked. _

_She blinked a few times to regain herself before pulling away from Nahuel. "Ummm. Nahuel, I'm flattered, but I already have someone. And even if I didn't, I really don't know you." _

_Jacob brightened and puffed his chest out in triumph over the hybrid. _YES! She picked me. She picked me. She picked me, _Jacob chanted in his head. Edward threw him a triumphant look._

"_But Renesmee," Nahuel took her hand, "we are of the same species. You and I are meant to be together. We should be together."_

"_No, Nahuel. I have someone, and I love him very much-" Jacob glared at Nahuel haughtily "-I would love to be you friend, but what he and I have is irreplaceable," Nessie explained carefully._

"_Renesmee," Nahuel began forcefully, taking her hand once more after she pulled away earlier, "please, give me a chance. It is not as though you ever had a choice in the matter. It is ridiculous magic." Nahuel glared over Nessie's hair at Jacob. Edward was shocked at his statement. His aunt must have told him about Nessie and Jacob's relationship – specifically the imprint._

"_How dare you?" Nessie hissed and slapped him hard across the face. Bella's eyes widened and a small smile formed on her face as her daughter took control of the situation. Edward and Jacob tensed. "Imprinting is not ridiculous. He is my soul mate, and if you have a problem with that, you may leave." Nessie turned to stalk back to her parents and Jacob, but Nahuel spun her around to face him once more. She squealed in pain as Nahuel's hand clenched her wrist tightly. _

_At this, Jacob shifted and lunged for Nahuel's throat while Edward freed Nessie and moved her swiftly into her mother's arms. Edward took up a protective stance in front of them._

_Jacob growled lowly as Nahuel jumped out of his reach. "You are not welcome in my home or anywhere near my family or our extended family. You will stay away from my daughter or we cannot guarantee that you will not suffer bodily harm," Edward hissed. _

_Bella mumbled under her breath. "You could have just said, we can guarantee bodily harm." Edward smirked at his wife who returned his smirk readily._

_Jacob bared his teeth and growled loudly this time before howling. More howls answered him and he took off after the retreating hybrid._

* * *

"I had not thought of that in a long time," Edward told Carlisle simply.

"Yes, and do you remember what you told me you asked Nahuel?" Carlisle asked quietly.

"I told him that I would consider giving him permission only if my daughter wished for a relationship."

"And as I recall, he was quite vocal in his thoughts about Nessie."

"True," Edward answered with a sigh. "But last time, I had Jacob to help ensure her safety. I cannot always be there with her because I'm her father, but Jacob could get away with following her around everywhere."

"Part of that is being parent, Son. You have to let your child make mistakes sometimes especially when they are adults and know what they are doing." Carlisle remembered the time of Edward's rebellious stage in the '30s as well as leaving Bella just a few years before.

"But it is so hard, Carlisle."

"No one ever claimed it was easy. To be given the wonders of a child, comes with responsibility and hardship. It is not a perfect role but one so worth all of the hardship that can come with it."

Edward nodded. "Perhaps I can let him have a shot with Nessie."

Carlisle nodded approvingly and patted Edward's back. They walked back to the house and into the kitchen.

Before they stepped through the door, though, Edward added, "I can if he stays two feet away at all times, and he keeps his hands to himself." Carlisle chuckled and whacked his son playfully in the head.

* * *

Upstairs, Nessie told her aunts about her developing 'friendship' with Reid Garwin. Alice giggled in delight at all the perfect spots and reveled in Nessie's explanation. Rose was happy, that much was clear, but her facial expressions were more reserved and unreadable.

They were all so caught up in talking that no actual unpacking got done. One box had the tape half opened and that was it.

"What do you think, Rose? It's pretty clear what Alice thinks," Nessie commented. Alice giggled before turning to Rose.

Rose took a deep breath. "Ness, I'm happy for you. Just be careful. Humans are unpredictable, especially young men. Royce was an awful, awful human being, and I just don't want this to turn into something like that. Jacob was a different story – he always loved you. I never thought I'd say this, but he was exactly what I wanted for you. And I honestly don't want anyone else for you." Nessie opened her mouth and promptly shut it as Rose smiled her to silence. "I want you to be happy. It is just difficult for me, and probably most of us, to watch you begin something new with anyone else. Don't get me wrong, you should. It's only healthy. It's just hard for us, that's all."

"Thanks. Jake will always be my Jacob. I just can't hang on to him forever, I'm realizing. I love him so much it hurts. I just," she took a deep breath and sighed, "need to keep going. Right now, I think that means spend time with Reid. I don't know if anything will happen, but you never know."

"Jake would have wanted you happy," Alice added, calmly with a wise look in her eyes. Sometimes the pixie could be calm and act like someone her age.

"Yes, he would have," Rose agreed. "And Ness, have you thought about what will happen if you two do start something? You will live forever and he won't. And you'll have to think about our secret."

The teenager sighed. "I don't know. Do I have to think about it now?"

Rose began until Alice interrupted her. "No. It's alright. Just know it's coming, okay?"

Nessie nodded solemnly. She hadn't really thought about it, but it was disturbing. What would she tell Reid? Would she tell him about her family? And if he accepted her secret, would she be able to let him go in 70 years? One problem goes and another one shows up – the revolving door of problems. Ack!

The three finally began unpacking and arranging the room. Alice and Rose argued about the best way to set it up and Nessie let them pretty much decided. She continued to mull over what they had talked about with Reid. Maybe he would be good for her? Or would this even turn into a relationship? Maybe he'd be a good rebound? The thoughts bounced around in her head.

"Ness," Alice tapped the girl's shoulder.

"Hmm?"

"You okay? You seemed a little lost there, Bunny."

"Just thinking about what we were talking about. I don't know anything right now. I don't know if he's even boyfriend material. Or is a rebound? Or a long term thing? I just don't know."

"Awww, honey, don't fret about it. Just enjoy the little things. You think too much just like your dad. Just let it go and enjoy the moment. Enjoy going to swim practice or a little flirting or stealing a kiss. You've got forever so why worry?"

"Jake didn't worry and look what happened…" Nessie trailed off.

"That's not why Jake got hurt. If anything, he was thinking too much and not able to focus on keeping himself safe. But that is not a good excuse at all. Try to rebel against your natural tendencies - if you can learn to relax some, you'll be happier and enjoy yourself more."

Nessie smiled at her aunt lovingly. "Thanks, Allie. I don't wanna screw anything up for the family either."

"We know that, Sweetie. But if something ever happens, it is not the end of the world and we all understand that accidents happen, kay?"

Nessie nodded and reached up to hug her aunt. "We are all done here now," Rose explained after watching the exchange between the two. "Come on, Alice. Let's leave Ness to her homework."

She rolled her eyes at her aunts before moving back over to her bed to finish the history outline she started before her aunts' interruption. Just as she finished detailing the conclusion, a hand rapped on her door and it opened.

"Hi, Nessie."

"Hi," Nessie stayed focused on her homework, conveying her annoyed feelings from his actions earlier.

"I just wanted to come to talk you about earlier."

"Uh huh."

Edward raised an eyebrow at Nessie's back. Her posture indicated she was upset with him and ignoring him on purpose. Teenagers… "I would appreciate it if you would put your homework away for a moment so I could speak with you. I would like to resolve what happened earlier."

She took a deep breath before pushing her homework away and flipping over so she could sit up and face her father. "Daddy…" she began, argumentatively.

"Renesmee." Nessie stopped immediately and her shoulders shrunk a little, losing some determination in confronting her father.

"Angel, I love you so very much, always know that." Nessie opened her mouth to speak but Edward put up his hand to silence her. "I want you to know that the majority of the actions I take in life are made out of love. My actions today were done out of a protective love for you. I am your father, and I desire to keep you safe, loved, and happy as much as is reasonable. However, sometimes these conflict and today they did. The way I acted today was wrong but I did it because I want to keep you from getting hurt. Having to watch you hurt anytime, kills me inside because I want to keep you happy. I am sorry that I hurt you today and I hope you can forgive me."

Nessie looked down at the quilt and played with it for a moment. She turned her eyes up to meet her father's and sighed quietly. "I love you too, Daddy. I forgive you." She stood up and the two embraced in the middle.

"Does that mean I can spend time with Reid and you won't say anything?"

"You can spend time with him and I will try to keep my opinions to myself. However, if he does or thinks anything too out of line, which I will leave to my discretion, I will speak with your mother and we will talk to you."

"Deal." She hugged Edward tighter and smiled at the end result. "You know, I'm just trying to get on with my life and not live in the past like we talked about. I think Reid might be able to help me with that." Nessie looked up at Edward hopefully.

"I know. Just keep in mind that he is human and we need to keep our secret safe."

Nessie's hand ghosted to her father's face showing what she and Alice had discussed earlier. He nodded and smiled lovingly at his daughter before leaving her to finish her homework.

* * *

I hope you all enjoyed that tidbit with Jake and Nahuel. I had not intended on writing this today, but I am pretty impressed with what came out. Enjoy, and like always, please, a hundred times, please review! XD

Amie


	6. Author's Note

Author's Note

Hey y'all...

Sorry this is so long in coming. I added some to chapter 5 and am working on a real Chapter 6 right now. Gonna go back and rewatch the Covenant and get to work. :-) Thanks for bearing with me.

Loves to all!  
Amie


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